SMST 4: Samurai Jill!
by ocramed
Summary: Where there is a JACK, there is a JILL...and Usagi Sailor Moon Tsukino is HER! This is Sailor Moon x Samurai Jack crossover story! Now featuring SIX-STRING SAMURAI and AFRO-SAMURAI! DONE!
1. Seasons of Death

**Sailor Moon: Samurai Jill 1 – By DS Wynne **

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**Disclaimer: "Sailor Moon", "Samurai Jack" and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-epic crossover.**

**Special note: This story takes place LONG before "Sailor Moon: Guardian of the Force".**

**Author's note: I know that there is a fan-fiction story called "Samurai Jill". Other than the name (which is why I added the designation "Sailor Moon"), THAT story has nothing to do with THIS one.**

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**Part 1: "Seasons of Death"**

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Ever since she came to this "alternate" Earth, Usagi ("Sailor Moon") Tsukino had to deal with aliens, mutants, mages, demons, renegade humans, gods and the like. Things got worse when her friend "Jack", a samurai from the pre-Tokugawa era in Japan, had sacrificed himself for her, when his nemesis Aku, a demonic wizard, attacked them. Originally, Usagi and Jack had met in battle, when slavers were attacking a village. Usagi was impressed to see the skills a living samurai in action, as he used his "magical" sword (a katana created by the gods Odin, Zeus and Brahmin) to cut a swath within enemy ranks.

"Wow!" Usagi said with excitement. "You're good!"

As Jack sheath his blade, he turns to the girl. Jack had a Japanese-style pony-tail, white robes (with belt) and an Oriental-style hat (on his back).

"Thank you," Jack said with a smile. "It's not everyday that I can meet a person from one's own homeland."

For the next few months, Jack and Usagi traveled together. In fact, it was Jack who helped her to perfect her sword work, even though she was already familiar with blade weapons; Usagi had first learned basic swordmanship, when she was brought into the Amazon Nation, during the time of the Mythic Age (thanks to a time-travel mishap). And now, thanks to Jack, her skills with the sword had gotten better.

Good thing that this had occurred, when Aku had launched a devastating attack on the duo. When the smoke cleared, only Jack's sword remained.

"JACK!" Usagi cried.

Usagi looked down, and picked up her friend's sword.

"I will avenge you, my friend," she said, as tears streamed from her eyes.

And thus, Samurai "Jill" was born.

Since then, Jill has wondered the land, searching for her missing friend while protecting people from harm.

Summer… 

Jill walks across the desert, as the sun above beats down its rays upon her. Or, it would have, if her parasol was not providing protection. Jill had expertly strapped the handle between her back and her back pack, so that she could play her four-string guitar. It allowed her the time to NOT concentrate on the fact that she was hungry and thirsty…

Suddenly, Jill noticed that the rolling dust was moving. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some sort of sentience to the movement…

"RAAAAAA!"

Jill's danger senses rang out, just as she leaped out of the way. A phantom had tried to attack her from behind. Jill then put away her musical instrument, and removed both her Oriental parasol and sword…

ZING!

The rainbow-colored parasol was made from a light-weight material, called "adamantium", that was stronger than steel. She had acquired it after saving a scientist from the clutches of Aku. Had she not done so, Aku's robotic army would have been even more difficult to defeat than they are now.

At any rate, the parasol was her proverbial shield, which also doubled as a paired weapon.

When Jill blocked the next series of attacks, and then tried to cut the phantoms with her blade, she realized that the phantoms poised no threat.

And thus resumed her walk.

When Jill saw that she was about to enter a nearby oasis, she naturally assumed that the oasis was another illusion-

SPLASH!

When Jill surfaced, she smiled. Talk about being ironic.

Fall… 

As the leaves in the forest turned red and orange, a small creature went about to collect them. It was bald, blue and short. It wore a smock, heavy gloves and red tinted goggles.

And with each successful "conquest", it laughed maniacally, revealing razor sharp teeth.

As the creature ran to and fro, from his laboratory that doubled as a windmill, the creature worked diligently to create a formula. For what purpose, only it knew.

Finally, after a long process, a sealed flask was produced. The creature then ran to a well by the road, poured its contents, and leaped back into the forest, where it would observe the actions of its…victim.

Finally, a lone figure walks down the road. Jill was playing her guitar, as she nears the well. She stops to notice how full the well was. She then puts her hand into the water, and sniffs it. With a smile of satisfaction, Jill gets a nearby ladle, dips it, and fills the contents. Just as she was about to take a sip, she suddenly stops.

The creature that was hiding pauses. Did its victim know about its deeds?

When Jill takes the drink, the creature is satisfied…

"URK!"

Jill convulses, as she falls to the ground.

The creature gleefully goes up to the still body, and as it was laughing-

Jill suddenly turns her head, and spits the tainted water into the creatures mouth. Surprised, the creature accidentally swallows…

PLONK!

…And is turned into a bundle of red and orange leaves. As this bundle disperses, Jill continues to spit.

"Yuck!" Jill says, as she gets up. She then turns her attention to the well. Ever since she had defeated "Sailor Chaos", Jill has learned how to tap into aspects of her "Sailor Moon" abilities. Thus, she pulls out her "Moon Healing Wand", and blesses the well. From that point on, nothing can be used to taint the well water, man-made or otherwise.

With that, Jill moves on.

Winter… 

Jill shivers, as trudges through the mountain pass. Her white cloak's hood was up, while her face was wrapped with silken, long scarf. In some way, she looked like a typical Muslim woman in a country that expects female modesty. Soon, her thoughts of cold would be interrupted by the presence of a huge, battle-ready ogre.

Man, I don't have time for this! Jill thought to herself.

The gray-skinned creature was standing in the middle of the pass, with his mystical blade at ready. The blade was forged by the finest craftsmen, tempered by magic, and fought over by the best of the best warriors. Supposedly, the winner of their contest would be the one to wield the sword against a great opponent.

At least, that's how the ogre's legend told it.

So when the ogre saw a slip of a girl on his path, he paused.

Was this the legendary one? The ogre thought. With a shrug, the ogre decided to find out. So, with a might swing, the ogre brought his weapon down…

At the same time, Jill quickly unsheathed her sword.

SLICE!

When it was all over, Jill had successfully cut the ogre's sword in half. And as Jill sheathed her blade and moved on, the ogre was still in a state of shock.

Spring… 

It was the first of May, all things were right in the world. The birds were singing, and the flowers were blooming. Still, Jill wondered if she could enjoy such a thing, as long as Jack was in the clutches of Aku.

Suddenly, a huge flower opens up to reveal a handsome elf, who reminded Jill of her boyfriend Mamoru ("Tuxedo Mask") Chiba.

"I bid thee greetings to this glen," the elf said, as he floated towards Jill.

"Um, hello?" Jill replied nervously. She wasn't sure why she was so smitten by this stranger.

"I have observed your actions from a afar, Usagi Tsukino," the elf said. "As 'Sailor Moon', you have been a champion of Love and Justice. As the one known as 'Jill', you have brought light to the land that was remade into Aku's image. And for that, you deserved a reward."

A spread of food appeared by a bubbling stream.

"Come, and let us feast together," the elf said.

Jill thought about it for a moment.

"Okay," she replied.

The elf smiled. Now, he has a companion that will be his forever…

Hours later…

"…And I told Rei, 'Rei, stop picking on me!'. But then she says that if I wasn't late all the time, then she would so what she was doing. As if I'M the problem!"

"Uh, uh," the elf said with boredom.

Hours after that…

"…And Shango always wake me up WAY too early. I complain about it, but I think that my parents like it when Shango is spying on me and stuff. I mean, really."

Doesn't she shut up? The elf thought to himself.

Even MORE hours after that.

"…And I told Mako-chan that we should be partners in an ice-cream parlor, but SHE thinks that I'd eat up all the profits-"

"Okay, that's it," the elf said, as he got up.

"What?" Jill says.

"Look, you're a nice girl, and all, but you talk WAY too much. So…don't call us, we'll call you."

And with a snap of his fingers, the glen disappears.

"Wow, that's weird," Jill says, as she gets up. With a sigh, she moves on. Afterall, she still has to fight Aku and rescue Jack. Hopefully, the one known as "Jill" will succeed in both.

**Fin.**

**Author's note: Basically, this is a 4-parter, in which I will rely on episodes of "Samurai Jack" to create adventures for Usagi. The last part will be the only original one (which details how Usagi finally succeeded in her mission), so the 2nd and 3rd parts are up for grabs. If you have any suggestions on which episode I should use as a template, let me know. Later!**


	2. Rain

**Sailor Moon: Samurai Jill 2 – By DS Wynne **

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**Disclaimer: "Sailor Moon", "Samurai Jack" and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-epic crossover.**

**Special note: This story takes place LONG before "Sailor Moon: Guardian of the Force".**

**Author's note: I know that there is a fan-fiction story called "Samurai Jill". Other than the name (which is why I added the designation "Sailor Moon"), THAT story has nothing to do with THIS one.**

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**Part 2: "Rain"**

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The one of the last of the first generation of Aku's robotic enforcers, the X09-Model, waited in his car, as rain came pouring down. Sounds of eclectic jazz wafted in the air, as 09 waited for his target to show. As he did so, his thoughts drifted back to the recess of his memories...

Back in the beginning of the rise Aku's power, Aku used evil scientists to create a robot legion for him to extend his will, without having to sacrifice his own potent power. After a series of missteps, the X-Models, codenamed "the Enforcers" were made. Patterned after the gangsters of the 1920s Chicago mafia, these machines were more than enough to root out the anti-Aku resistance. One of the models, the X09-Model, was given a multi-variable microchip that granted it emotions, and thus allowing it to have a better discernment of his targets. Finally, after his last mission, 09 retired, but not before finding a mechanical puppy for companionship. Thus, 09 and "Lulu" walks away, and goes into hiding.

At least that would have been the plan, especially since the scientists have created a replacement in the form of "Bug Bots".

Eventually, the past caught up 09, when Aku had 09's puppy kidnapped. Apparently, the one known as "Samurai Jill" had caused enough trouble to Aku to warrant 09's creator to suggest using the Enforcer-bots against Jill. So, Aku had Lulu kidnapped in order to force 09 to go after Jill.

Thus, 09, with his trench coat, fedora and pistols, went out into the rain, in order to neutralize the one known as "Samurai Jill".

"I hate the rain," 09 said, as he tracked down the location of Jill to an abandoned robot factory.

And now…

09 went inside, guns drawn. His sensors picked up Jill's trail, but not Jill herself.

Steadily, he went to the source of a fire, which was burning in an old drum. He peeked closer, and could see the silhouette of a girl shivering…

When 09 steps closer, he accidentally steps on a lug-nut, creating sound. Quickly, he rushes forward-

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

09 had let loose a barrage of rounds, only to realize that Jill was gone.

The Enforcer scanned the area, firing on anything that was making a sound.

Suddenly, the entire factory came to life.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

09 shot up the equipment, in an effort to create more silence, all the while Jill observed the robot from her hiding place-

Jill ran to different spots in the factory, causing 09 to try to shoot Jill whenever possible. Because of the broken pipes, caused by 09's shooting, steam began to fill the factory. Cautiously, 09 "felt" his environment, mindful of how silently his prey has become.

Finally, 09 could make out a motionless silhouette…

Steadily, 09 aimed…and fired his pistol.

BLAM!

The silhouette drops.

09 walk over, he sees that his "prey" was nothing more than a propped up "duster".

As he stands there perplexed, a figure rises from the floor…

SLICE!

As the machine falls to factory floor, Usagi "Sailor Moon" Tsukino, aka "Samurai Jill", sheaths her friend Jack's magical katana. She wondered how Aku managed to track down her latest location. As she turns to leave her hide out, she over-hears the robot speaks.

"Take care of…Lulu…"

Somehow, those words had cut Usagi to the quick. Did she make a mistake? Not really sure, Usagi removed the CPU and all the computer chips connected from the construct. Hopefully, someday, she'll discover who or what this "Lulu" is.

**Tbc.**


	3. The Fist and the Sword, Act 1

**Sailor Moon: Samurai Jill 3 – By DS Wynne **

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**Disclaimer: "Sailor Moon", "Star Trek", "Samurai Jack", "Fist of the North Star", "The Rifts" and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

**Special note: This story takes places between "Sailor Moon: The Alien Within" and "Sailor Moon: The Rifter" (coming soon).**

**Author's note: Just to let you guys know, one, this is a "Fist of the North Star" segment, which means that this chapter has bloody parts, and, two, I know the "Fist..." takes place in the 20th century, but I needed to change things a bit, to make the timeline (of this story) make sense.**

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Part 3: "The Fist and the Sword, Act One" ****

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_Contrary to popular belief, the chaos demon "Aku" does not control this world. He had sought to do so, when he caused the Rifts to come to Earth, in hopes of creating an environment rich in magic and psychic energy for himself. But when the demon caused the Rifts to occur, that phenomenon attracted the attention of other powerful entities, check-mating him. Thus, while Aku's "turf" was Hakkaido, Japan, but his influence was global…and beyond. Originally, Aku was part of Apsu, the Babylonian god of darkness, until a battle between it and Ra, Odin and Brahmin caused Apsu to shatter. The three gods had formed an alliance with Marduk, and had agreed to deal with him, while Marduk himself dealt with Apsu's wife Tiamat. Apsu would be later be imprisoned, but a fragment of him would still move on to become the demon Aku._

_The rest is history._

_As for myself, I have been searching for my "sensei", a man simply known as "Jack", for a long time now. I know that once I have located him, he can go back to the past, and destroy Aku, so that the demon would not have created the Rift-phenomenon in the first place. I do suspect that as long as evil exist, Aku can NEVER be truly destroyed. And besides, the only thing that would occur is a creation of a new timeline, one where Aku never created the Rifts. Perhaps, THAT particular timeline is my own timeline. Who knows?_

_Thus, my journey in this strange land continues…_

It was mid-July, based on "Jill's" recollection. She has been traveling along the ancient Asian steppes for some time now, heading East. She had to deal with the usual assortment of gods, monsters, demons and evil wizards in these lands, since the land was steeped in magic. In some bizarre way, Jill was reminded of her time in the Mythic Age…minus the occasional technologically advanced settlements and territories.

Jill, dressed in a white cloak and wore a "costu" (i.e. "Chinese straw-hat"), was heading East to return home, even if she has to walk through the intense Gobi Desert-

Wait, Jill thought to herself, as she stopped. I sense…a great power near by…

Jill realized that she was near a ravine. It seemed to run deep into the Earth, like a flesh wound that would never heal. She extended her senses into the ravine, and sensed a wounded…NOBLE…soul.

Julia…

Taking a chance, Jill removed her cloak, hat, guitar, katana, and magic bag (a bag that was really a pocket dimension, which was the size of a small room). Then, remembering the gift of gliding, thanks to her time as a student at the feet of Zephyrus, the gods of the Western winds, back in the Mythic Age, Jill leaped into the ravine, gliding on currents of air…

A few years later…

In the midst of a ruined city, a gang of huge biker, mutant thugs attacks a teenaged boy and a young girl. Previous, the kids were fleeing in their roadster, as the thugs pursued them. Now, after a fatal left-turn that left the kids helpless, the thugs were on the verge of killing them.

"Let her go, you bastards!" yelled the boy.

"This little runt gots some guts!" yelled the leader, before dropping the girl who tried to club the back of his head. "Oh, well. Sweet dreams, kid!"

The thug, with his huge foot, tried to stomp the girl to death. Amazingly, the girl held the foot back.

"What?" thug exclaimed.

As she held the foot back, the girl shed tears of frustration.

HELP! The girl mentally screamed.

BOOM!

Everyone turned to see buildings collapsing, as a figure slowly made its way towards the assembled group. Appearing as a golem like creature, the figure casually hit the base of buildings near its path. With each blow, each building toppled over. One building fell on the figure. However, the person in question continued to walk as if the collapsed building was not even real. When the person was in the immediate area, dirt and mud began to flick off the figure, slowly revealing a female wearing a white cloak, Chinese straw hat, a guitar and umbrellas on her back, a sword and bag at her side, and some sort of Sailor-like fuku outfit underneath, which was partially exposed by the winds. Locks of blond hair, streaked with white strands, wisped out of the hood from the apparent high winds.

"Hey! It's some b-!"

Upon closer inspection, the lead thug could see that the female's eyes glowed with power. Slowly, the female walked towards the thug that held the little girl down with his foot.

"Oh, no you don't!" he said, as he pulled out a crossbow and shot the woman with a single arrow in the chest through her cloak.

When the arrow struck, a tiny spurt of blood gushed out. However, the woman did not give any inclination that the arrow affected her. Casually, she pulled out the arrow, tossed it away, and proceeded to pick the man that shot her by the head. Slowly, she squeezed…

"YAAAAAH-!"

POP!

After the woman dropped the corpse on the ground, she bent down to check out the little girl for injuries. At the point, the thugs, friends came out of their stunned silence, and proceeded to attack the woman.

"Ready? Get her!"

As the woman picked up the little girl in her arms, the thugs attacked.

WHACK!

That was an elbow smash to the face.

CRUNCH!

That was a knee strike.

CHOK!

That was a back-kick to the neck.

While this display was awesome in and of itself, what followed afterwards was much more horrifying. Wherever the woman struck, that particular body part expanded…exploded.

"YAAAAAAAAA-!

BLOOSH!

The teenaged boy, who was the little girl's companion, watched in horror to this gruesome display.

"Holy crap!"

"Boy," the woman said, as she walked towards the teenager.

"Y...yes?" the teenager replied. He was nervous about little Lynn being in the woman's arms.

"We need to get find a village. Do you know of any?"

Later, once the woman found some privacy, she uncovered herself.

So, this is what I've become, Jill thought to herself, as she examined her self. First, she took a look at her Sailor Scouts uniform. Because of the harsh conditions of the world, she chose to wear it all the time because it was the only thing that kept her reasonably clean. Then, she noticed how much older she looked, and it was all because of the harsh training and experiences she went through over the past few years. Or maybe it's what she believes her to be, since the only clear evidence is graying hair and tired eyes. The Rifts can be a pretty harsh place. At least in the Mythic Age, there was a beauty in the wildness of the lands, and a sense of purpose in the minds and hearts of the people. Here in this time, there was a feeling of decadence and decay in this seemingly post-apocalyptic world, the worst being other men willing to become the very monsters that routinely prey on people. She knew that this was what Aku wants, but it still saddened Jill that normal people willingly turns to evil they way they did.

A few years ago, Jill met a dying young martial artist, who was critically wounded from an assault that took his loved ones away. Using her medical training from her days in Starfleet, Usagi nursed the man to health. As part of his recovery, this man, simply known as "Ken", used Usagi as a training partner, impressed in her abilities as a fellow martial artist. The two soon parted ways, promising each other to let the other know if they needed assistance of any kind, while Ken searched for his lost love "Julia". Even though her martial arts prowess had increased considerably, she still kept Jack's sword. After all, there were things in the world that one did not want to touch with one's bare fists.

At the moment, Usagi was sad (her hair color reflecting this, of course) that she resorted to such violence, especially since her foes were human. Demons were legitimate targets, but humans? Then again, after seeing how depraved humanity has become, Usagi thought that "violence" might be the answer. The irony, from all indications, is that nothing will change for this planet for another three hundred years. And even then, the wars will get even nastier. Still, Usagi would have to figure out a way back to the right time period so that she could find her "Mamo-chan". Mamoru Chiba, aka "Tuxedo Mask", aka "Prince Endymion" was the love of her life, and, damn it, she will not stop they are together again!

Suddenly…

"YAHHHHH!"

Jill, awoken from her reverie, could sense the violence levels increasing.

"Great," she muttered to herself, as she covered her head with her hood, scarf and hat once more. Time to get into character…

Outside, the boss of the men from earlier had ordered the entire settlement to be "dealt with". He and his gang had rode into town on motorcycles, originally seeking to cause mayhem. However the boss also wanted the one responsible for his scouts' death.

"You will tell me who was responsible for causing my scouts' deaths…or the girl gets IT!"

The boss held the little girl, whom Jill had saved earlier, in his hands, ready to tear her apart. Now, the settlement would want to help and all, but each of the marauders was gigantic in stature and strength…and the boss of the Marauders was even bigger.

Jill slowly steps forth…and kicks a brick into the boss man's mouth.

"Ptui! Who did that?"

All eyes turned on the mysteriously cloaked stranger.

"That's the one!" said one of the men. "Get 'em!"

While not loosing a step, Jill continued forward. The marauders leaped upon her, but only to have her extraneous clothing removed, leaving only her Sailor fuku in place…

"It's…SAILOR MOON!" said one of the settlers.

'Moon continues to walk towards the boss man, while his cronies continued to attack her.

As she walked, 'Moon batted her attackers away, as if they were a nuisance. The marauders were flying about, exploding into bloody pulps of flesh. The last assailant was smashed into the boss-man's large body, as if he was a bug on a windshield. Then, 'Moon stood in front of the boss-man.

"I have heard of you…Xander," 'Moon said, as she pointed her sword's hilt at the boss-man. "Let her go, and walk away."

Xander sneers.

"Yeah, I'll put her down…after a break her neck!"

'Moon squinted her eyes, flicked up sword from its sheath, and seemingly…disappeared.

Xander then realized that he no longer had the kid in his hands. In fact, he could now see that his opponent had the girl in her hands.

"That's it, 'witch'. I'm going to kill you nice and slow. 'Cuz when I fight, it's too the death!"

"That's right," 'Moon said, not even bothering to turn back. "In fact, you're already DEAD."

"Is that…a…fact-?"

As soon as Xander took a single step forward, he fell apart in tiny pieces. 'Moon had moved so fast, that she went "invisible speed", as she struck Xander down. It was only a matter of moments that his body would register this fact.

Jill sighed. She hated what she had to do, but, until civilization returns, extreme measures had to be taken.

And then, she looked up, sensing a great power.

A large man, with a brown cloak and beard slowly walks up to Jill. He stops, and casually surveys the area before return his attention to her.

"Usagi," the man said simply.

"Ken," Jill replied likewise. She was glad to see her old friend, who was apparently at the peek of his power.

"We have much to discuss," Ken said.

Jill nods. She had heard rumors of "the Fist of the North Star" and his gang of thugs terrorizing the area, which is why Jill had sent a telepathic message for her and him to meet in this place. She knew that Ken could not have been doing what the rumors have said about him, so they knew that they needed to team up to clear Ken's name.

**Tbc.**


	4. The Fist and the Sword, Act 2

**Sailor Moon: Samurai Jill 4 – By DS Wynne** **

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**Disclaimer: "Sailor Moon", "Star Trek", "Samurai Jack", and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-epic crossover.**

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**Part 4: "Fist and Sword, Act 2"**

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Ken was shaving his face, as "Jill", after having transformed out of her costume, tended to the wounded. Then, she came upon the mute Lynn.

"Can you help her, miss?" asked the village elder.

"I think I can," Jill says, as she turned her attention to Lynn. "Don't worry. This won't hurt a bit."

Jill's hands glowed, as she delved deep into her "patients" mind. Since developing her psychic abilities a while back, Jill was learning how to use them to heal traumatized victims; Lynn had been traumatized ever since marauders destroyed her village. Coupled with what her sensei and friend Ken has taught her about pressure points, Usagi was using holistic methods to do what is necessary to heal the sick.

"There, that ought to do it-"

"Are…are you a goddess?" Lynn suddenly asked.

"Why do you say that?" Jill says, with a raised eyebrow.

"I sense a great soul within you, Miss…Miss…"

"Call me Usagi."

Lynn smiles.

The now beardless Ken comes up behind Jill, and squats down. He then takes a tiny bag out of his pocket.

"I believe that you should have this," Ken says. "You remind me of an old…friend, who believed that one day the Earth can become like the Kingdom of Heaven. Theses seeds represent the hope of humankind, and that we can all someday have peace."

Lynn accepted the gift and blushed.

The seeds were actually seeds of the Millennium Tree, mystical trees that can, when planted, will grow the height of skyscrapers. They are said to have special properties, dedicated to the cause of Good. A long time ago, Ken and Julia were given these special seeds to plant around the world by Ken's father Ryuken, a mystical practitioner of martial arts. Ryuken had told his son that Shen Long himself, a powerful dragon, gave these seeds to him. Shen Long is said to have many guises, which is why he is legendary all over the world. And now, it was up to people like Julia and Lynn to spread the seeds, so that humankind may recover from the darkness that Aku had caused.

After Jill and Ken leaves the village, Lynn tells his friend Bart, her protector, that Usagi and Ken were the hope for the future.

"You got to be kidding me," Bart says.

"I…I do believe in them," Lynn replies in earnest. She did hope to them again.

A few days later, Ken and Jill came upon a fight between a man and several mutant thugs. It was, however, a decidedly one-sided fight, when the man with the white, long hair used his fingers to slice his attackers to pieces. Apparently, he was enhancing his fingers with "chi" into living blades.

"Now," said the man with the white hair, "Tell me where I can find the man-with-the-seven-wounds, and wears an iron mask!"

"The heck I say-" his opponent was about to say, as he was about to club the man with the white hair. Or he would have, if there weren't a blade suddenly to his neck.

"Be a good dear, and back down," Jill whispered.

"I…I…okay."

"He knows what I'm talking about!" the man with the white hair. "Let me at him!"

Ken steps forth.

"I may have seven wounds, but I don't wear a mask."

"Then I will have my revenge for what you have done with Haley!"

The man tried to move to intercept Ken, but found himself unable to move from his spot.

"Wha-?"

"A little bit of telekinesis can go a long ways," Jill says, as blood dripped from her nose. Physical psychic powers took a lot more to implement than telepathy. However, over time, the frequency of use of her powers should help with the bleeding problems.

By the way, the environment that is "The Rifts" is responsible for the proliferation of magical and psychic abilities in exceptional humanoids. The greater the potential, the greater the power he or she can wield. Since Jill was an exceptional person, contrary to popular belief, the power that she will wield will be great indeed.

Ken nods his thanks to Jill, then turns to the statue dedicated to the "Fist of the North Star".

"My brother Jackie tends to be overly dramatic," Ken says, before smashing the statue. "He is not the Fist of the North Star…I AM!"

"I want your word of honor that you will hear Ken out before acting," Jill demanded.

The man with the white hair, known as "Ray", looks at his options. He sensed great power coming from these two. Besides, what did he have to loose?

"Okay, I'm listening."

A short time later, after truce has been called, the trio arrives at the outskirts of town, where "Lord" Jackie and his crew headquartered.

"Allow me," Ken says, as he punches the wall. However, a rather large man, who was the size of a house, was blocking the opening.

"Well, well, well," said the man. "Lord Jackie's brother is here. He told me you would be showing up."

"Good, now get out of my way!"

"I don't think so!"

Ken then tried to use his multiple-hit punch, to get at his opponent's pressure points. However, after the very first punch, Ken got stuck in the man's stomach.

"What's the matter little buddy? Got stuck? Well, that's why I'm Lord Jackie's body guard!"

And with that, the man smashed Ken into the ground.

BLAM!

"Come again another day!"

Jill was about to unsheathe Jack's sword, when Ken signaled with his hand to not interfere.

"Need a hand?" Ray asks.

"I appreciate the offer," Ken says, as he gets up and into a fighting stance. "But I can take this guy!"

"Yeah, that's what you think!" as the behemoth lunges forward.

However, instead of using his fists, ken used his leg to perform a "sidekick" his opponent a hundred times a second. Slowly, the thickness of the stomach decreases. Then, Ken steps back.

"Ha!" the behemoth says, as he felt his reshaped stomach. "You got to do better than THAT!"

"Say good-bye tubs, because you're already DEAD. HA!"

Ken poked the behemoth in the space in his stomach, and steps back. Jill sees this, and steps back as well. She knew right away about the impending mess.

"What did I say? I'm good as new-"

BLOOSH!

"A little sloppy," Ray says with a smirk, "But that IS an interesting technique."

Ray then turns to see what Jill's reaction would be. However, she was gone.

"Where-?"

"She's around," Ken says. "Let's go inside."

Soon, Ken and Ray find themselves in some sort of foyer. A long time ago, the building was part of the air terminal, which was part of the old airport.

"So, my brother, you have come," Jackie, the man in the iron mask, says.

"HE is the one?" Ray says.

"Allow me to introduce you to my brother Jackie…a coward who hides behind his goons. But I want to make you an offer…Ray, isn't?"

Jackie signals his men to bring forth Ray's sister Haley. Like her brother, Haley had white hair. She also wore a yellow sundress.

"My Lord Jackie, have you offer me to another man?"

"H-Haley!"

"Though I robbed her of her sight, I enhanced her other senses for my amusement!"

Ray exploded in rage, and ran towards Jackie.

"You…you animal!"

Jackie pulled out a shotgun, and pointed it at Haley's head, forcing Ray to stop.

"Here's the deal, either you can HELP me destroy my brother, or- wait! Where is that trollop that hangs out with Ken…?"

ZING!

Jill was standing by Ken's side, with Haley in her arms. She had used her Bene Gesserit training to stealthy out maneuver Jackie. And she was fast enough to move around before that fact can be registered.

"Haley!" Ray says with glad tidings, as she held his sister. Then, he noticed that she was unconscious. "Haley…?"

"Your sister is asleep," Jill said. "I thought that it would be best if she did not witness what was about to go down."

Ray nods in agreement, as he handed Haley back to Jill.

Ken steps forth.

"Ray, deal with these clowns," Ken says. "I have unfinished business with my brother Jackie."

"That's right!" Jackie roared. "I don't need anyone to protect me! I'm my own man!"

"Live that fantasy a little while longer, because it will soon be all over."

Needless to say, Ken was right.

After Jackie and his henchmen were destroyed, Jill was able to heal Haley from her experience. However, it was Lynn who convinces Haley to not feel sorry for herself; Lynn and Bart had followed the three at the insistence of Lynn.

"You…you don't understand what Jackie made me do!" Haley cried.

"I don't know what was done to you, Miss Haley, but we can't allow bad things to destroy us."

Lynn brings out a potted plant. It was a Millennium Tree sprout.

"Someday, this plant will become a tree, and that tree will bring back the Earth as it should be. But it is up to me to protect it long enough to make that happen. So, no matter what the bad men do, I still have to try to make things better."  
Haley gently touches the plant.

"It's beautiful…" Haley says.

Meanwhile, Jill is thinking about two things. One, Lynn's words were dead on, and, two, the words that Lynn was speaking was too sophisticated for a ten-year old. There was something strange about that girl…

Meanwhile, an army of epic proportions was on the move. A man wearing a flowing black cape and a horned helmet is sitting on a huge black stallion. Slowly, but surely, he is conquering territory after territory with his massive army.

And his name is Raul, the brother of the Fist of the North Star!

**Tbc.**


	5. The Fist and the Sword, Act 3

**Samurai Jill – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: None of the aforementioned characters belong to me.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 5: "The Sword and the Fist, Act 3"**

* * *

_While Ken, Ray and "Jill" were dealing with the mess that was Jacky, another pitched battle was taking place miles from the old city…_

"Aieee!" cried a middle-aged woman, as she and her family were dragged out of their home by a group of large men. Somehow, the ambient radiation had the effect of augmenting your average human being into some sort of large-size "thug". Interesting, a more normal-size thug appeared to be the leader of the group.

"We found her hiding underneath the floorboards, boss!" said one of the "mutants".

"Please!" said the father of the girl, as he tried to struggle from his confines. "Don't hurt my daughter-!"

BAM!

"Ooof!" said the man, as he slumped from a blow by one of his captors.

"Shut-up!" said the man who assaulted him.

The leader, a man with wild, free-flowing hair looked amused. He appeared effeminate, and wore a liberal amount of cosmetic "make-up"…which is particularly unusual within the context of a wasteland.

"Bring the girl to ME," the leader said, as he uncrossed his arms, and stood straight.

"NO!" the girl screamed, as she was dragged to the man.

"Please!" the mother wailed. "Treat her like a lady!"

The leader looked at the mother, while grabbing the girl.

"Oh, but I WILL treat her 'like a lady', madam. But, you see, I'm not here to take Miriam for myself; no, I'm here to KILL her in front of her boyfriend Ray."

The leader looks at the girl.

"But not before your daughter see you all DIE."

The man pushes the girl off to another one of his thugs.

"Have a nice life," the man said, as he let loose a vertical stream of compressed air…like blades produced by a sudden vacuum.

FWOOM!

"Ah-!" said the family in unison.

And then-

FWOOM-

TING!

Another slew of vacuum blades intercepted the man's attack, canceling both "blades" of air.

"Boss, look!" said the "head-thug", as everyone careened his or her respective heads to see the source of the attack. Standing still was a man. He wore a straight-bream, black Cowboy hat (with a colorful band, made from beads, around the brim). He also wore a charcoal colored "poncho" that seemed long enough to be a cloak.

And the stranger's lower face was covered with a red scarf.

The leader of the gang of thugs squinted his eyes. Being a high-level practitioner of martial arts, the leader could read the auras of a potential opponent. From what he could tell, the stranger emitted an aura of a normal fighter.

Time to test a theory…

"Jeremy," said the leader.

A longhaired, stringy haired man steps forth.

"Yes, boss?"

"Why don't you 'put the boot' to our new friend," the leader replied.

"Yes, sir!" Jeremy says, as he picks up a club that had the words "The Boot" inscribed on its surface. He then turns to face the new stranger.

"It's hurting time!" Jeremy yells, as he swung the club. "YAHHHHHH-!"

As Jeremy went after the stranger, the stranger looks up. His eyes had the glint of confidence…

CRASH!

When Jeremy's club hit its mark, the stranger shattered into a million shards of stone.

"What the-?"

Suddenly, a flying fist seemingly leaps out the ground.

CRACK!

One uppercut later, Jeremy is on the ground…unconscious.

"Interesting," the leader of the thugs said. "So, who are YOU suppose to be?"

The stranger turns to face the leader. With one hand, he grabs the brim of his hat. With another, he grabs the garment of his poncho. And in one swoop-

WHOOSH!

The man exposed his full person. Standing before all, was a rugged-looking man dressed in Chinese clothing. His muscles seemingly stretched the fabric of his clothes just enough to indicate that he was "ripped". His wild hair was tied into a medium-length "pig-tail" braid. And his gray-blue eyes seemingly pierced all that the man surveyed.

"My name is 'Ranma Saotome'…of the Musabetsu Kakato," Ranma says, as he cracked his knuckles. "And sorry for the arse-kicking that I am about to do…unless you walk away RIGHT NOW."

"'Anything Goes'? That's funny," said the gang-leader. "Since you introduced yourself, then I should do the same."

The gang leader turned to face Ranma in full.

"My name is 'Judas Yosei'…of the 'Nanto Kokatu Ken'," Judas says, as he flexed his muscles. "I am not impressed with you or your craft. And now that you have my full attention, I shall deal with YOU."

'Nanto…this guy must know Shin, if he knows 'the Southern Fist',' Ranma thought.

"Boys?"

"YAHHHHHH!" said the six remaining thugs, as they tried to "bum rush" Ranma's position.

Now during that moment, several thoughts ran through Ranma's mind. One, these men had blood on their hands. Two, he gave them a chance to leave. And, three, if he didn't end the situation NOW, these "things" will be back to harass the innocent. So, in spite of how he felt about taking human life, Ranma went into "lethal" mode.

FWOOM-!

Ranma moved about the thugs, as if they were as fast as a collection of tortoises. Since coming to this post-Apocalyptic environment that was "Rifts Earth", he had to hone his power to a razor's edge, and then some. As he went about his work, Ranma recalled the day that he and Usagi, while searching for two of their friends (Hoshi Sato and T'Pol the Vulcan) in the Gobi Desert of China, came across a dying master of the Hokuto no Ken named "Ken". Between the two of them, they saved Ken's life. Ken, in return, broke with tradition and taught them his style, while learning from THEIR style. Ken told them that he did not want to risk the "God Fist" to be left in the hands of the likes of his older brothers Raul and Jacky…should he dies once and for all.

Interestingly, Ranma and Usagi focused on very specific styles within the Hokuto no Ken. Ranma, ever the aerialist, focused on speed, while Usagi, who has never liked the idea of feeling helpless, focused on strength. To be sure, both of them grew as martial artists while training with Ken, but they certainly chose areas of improvement. And, as always, Ranma sailed through his training like he always did.

Now, it was the time to demonstrate how even more effective Ranma has become in this regard.

Within moments, Ranma stopped moving.

"Huh?" said the lead thug, just as he and his buddies began to turn around. "What are you-?"

BLOOSH!

Hitting the right "pressure points", all six mutants exploded in a clean mist, shocking everyone save for Judas.

"So…you know the 'God Fist'," Judas says. "Maybe today won't be so boring. HA!"

Using quick movements, in a manner similar to a form from the 'Crane School of Kung Fu', Judas seeming cut into the very air with his fingers, in a vertical motion, creating vacuums in his wake. However, the vacuum stream began to extend quickly towards Ranma's direction.

FSSST!

'Whoa!' Ranma thought, as he dodged the attack with a sidestep move. He had to remember, from his encounter with Ray, that there was others schooled in the Southern Fist. The last thing he wanted was his body sliced to ribbons.

"Huh," Judas sneered, as he observed his opponent's movement. "You're a feisty one, aren't you?"

"I have my moments. But our battle will be over REAL soon."

"I agree. LET'S DO THIS!"

The two men rush at each other, and leaped into the air. However, while Judas simply used the added flight to perform a straight kick, and would have followed up the flying kick with a series of hand movements designed to "slice and dice", Ranma was the practitioner of the Aerial School of Indiscriminate Grappling (within the Musabetsu Kakato-ryu). Judas thought to lure Ranma in close, and then use his long rang attack to deliver the killing blow.

Judas thought wrong, as Ranma suddenly adjusted his position several times within a "sphere".

ZING! ZING! ZING!

The two warriors landed on the opposite sides.

"Ha! You didn't even touch me!"

"You're right, Judas," Ranma smirked. "I didn't."

"What do you mean-?"

Suddenly, Judas' arms fell off.

"WAHHHHHHHHHHH-!" Judas cried.

"You see, Judas, I am much faster than you take me for. I simply used air pressure, just enough, to throw your attacks off. Combine all THAT, and, well, you see the results."

"Wha-what do you want?"

Ranma raised an eyebrow.

"I want to know where 'Southern' is…or I will end your life here and now."

Judas' face chances expression…to one of a maniacal grin.

"I will NEVER tell you! You ruined my chance to destroy the beauty in Ray's life…by killing his girlfriend Miriam. And, now, Southern will destroy you-!"

"Moko Takabisha Revised: ELIMINATION SURPRISE!"

A crimson energy sphere left Ranma's hand, as his aura changed from its normal blue to red. He would have saved Judas' life, in exchange for information. Unfortunately for him, he refused. So…he was "kicked-off" the mortal coil.

FWOOSH!

There was nothing left of Judas but ash.

Ranma shook his head. He has had it with all this death and destruction, and the soon he finds Hoshi and T'Pol, the sooner he and Usagi can leave the Rifts Earth for Tri-Galaxy.

He then went over to Jeremy, who was waking up.

"Huh?" Jeremy says.

"Get up," Ranma demanded, as he yanked the man up.

"Don't hurt me!"

"I'm not going to, but I will ask you something."

"I'll tell you anything!"

"So…where is the Southern?"

Jeremy tells Ranma that Southern and his men heading for the City of the Southern Cross to intercept Raul the Conqueror's army.

"Thanks," Ranma says, as he straightens the man out. "Heed these words: if I EVER hear that you engage in barbarism, I WILL find you…and no one else will, got it?"

"Y-yes!"

"Now, get out of here!" Ranma said, as he pushes Jeremy towards some random direction. And with, the last of Judas' men leaves the scene…in a hurry.

Ranma sighed.

'Some much death…' Ranma thinks to himself.

"Oh, thank you!" says Miriam, as she goes over to her savior. Miriam was a raven-haired beauty with soft brown eyes. Like all the villagers who escaped from the coasts, to avoid the radiation effects, Miriam was dressed in simple peasant clothings.

"Hey, aren't you Ray's girl?" Ranma says. "You know…the one that the Judas 'freak' was referring to?"

"Well…we were," she says sadly. "Judas didn't know that Ray and I had broken up some time ago, ever since his sister was kidnapped."

Miriam then looked up into Ranma's eyes. Ranma got the same sense whenever his "stalker" Kodachi ("The Black Rose") Kuno was around.

It was a look of hunger.

"But now that YOU are here…"

"Um, I got to go," Ranma says, as he tries to laugh off the situation off.

"Nonsense," Miriam says, as he grabs Ranma's arm. "I have to repay my savior with a meal…and dessert."

Ranma turns to Miriam's parents.

"But what about your parents?" Ranma cried quietly.

"Oh, stop being such a wuss, boy," says the father.

"I agree," replies the mother. "Yes, we KNOW what Miriam has in mind. And while we wanted to do things 'proper', after today, life is too short as it is. And besides…I want a grandchild before I die."

"Come," says Miriam, as he pulls Ranma inside her family's home. "Let me get you cleaned up for dinner first."

"Ulp!"

**Tbc.**


	6. The Fist and the Sword, Act 4

**Samurai Jill – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: None of the aforementioned characters belong to me.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 6: "The Sword and the Fist, Act 4"**

* * *

A few days ago… 

Raul the Conqueror, dressed like a "Roman emperor", rode his trusty black steed, as his armies marched upon the territory of Kiba Diao—the so-called "Wolf King". With Unger, Raul's Second, at his side, the armored warriors of the Conqueror were ready to cross swords with the so-called "Wolf Tribe".

Kiba himself was not amused, nor was he worried about some _man_ attempting to conquer his lands. So with that in mind, Kiba (balding, long-haired man who wore a "fu Manchu" mustache) picks up the microphone of his refurbished Buick.

"Listen up, Raul," Kiba began. "Leave my lands, or you and everyone of your men will die by my hand!"

Raul says nothing, but merely squints his eyes.

"Call yourself 'Emperor of the World'? HA! Call yourself 'Emperor of the Galaxyt', if you like, but you won't defeat ME or take my lands!"

Raul still says nothing, but merely gives the signal to attack.

"Right," says the graybeard Unger, who turns to face the troops.

"Men! Forward!"

Angered by Raul's actions, Kiba throws down his microphone.

"Gah!" Kiba says. "Men…ATTACK!"

"YAAAAAAAAH!" yelled the men of the Wolf Tribe.

Seeing this, Raul's forces surged forward.

CLANG!

While men of the Wolf Tribe were known for their fierceness, Raul's forces, each wielding swords made from tempered steel, countered with brutal efficiency. Thus, in the end, Raul's forces, many of which were picked amongst the best of the sheep, were proven themselves victorious. Even when more "Wolfmen" were popping from various hiding places, wielding strapped-on steel claws, Raul's forces were still turning the tide.

"Grrr!" Kiba growls, as he stands up. "Now THEY die! GHAAAAAAA-!"

As Kiba's aura glowed, he grew taller…and darker. Soon, he was a giant of a man made from steel.

Raul, upon seeing this, raises an eyebrow.

"I've turned my body to steel, Raul!" Kiba yells triumphantly. "Nothing can stop me NOW!"

Raul's men sees this, and goes after Kiba. However, their swords proved ineffective in taking down the Wolf King. What made this fact poignant was the fact that Kiba was smashing his enemies into pulp-like pieces.

"Hahahahaha! Is that the best you can DO?" Kiba bellowed, as he steps forward.

"Grrrr, ATTACK!" Unger yelled, as he cracked his whip, urging the troops to move forward. More of Raul's troops were brutally massacred in Kiba's wake.

"More men, Raul? You should waste their lives like that, or are you SCARED? I promise not to hurt your pretty little horse."

"How dare you!" Unger called out. "A KING doesn't dirty his hands with scum like you-"

A still silent Raul, who merely raised a hand, stopped Unger from speaker.

"What's the matter?" Kiba mocks. "Cat got your tongue?"

And then Kiba surges forward, ready to strike his foe down with his own sword.

Suddenly, the sword shatters.

"Wha-?" Kiba yells, as he drops the handle. "You think breaking my sword will scare me away?"

Kiba surges forward again.

"Rrraaa!" Kiba yells.

Suddenly multiple blows, all in a space of a moment, hit him. This had the affect of denting his "skin".

"I don't know what you did to me, but you will HAVE to do better than that."

The fists dents pop back out.

Casually, Raul raises his right palm.

"Why are you doing THAT? You think I believe in magic, or something? What kind of fool you take me for?"

Suddenly, without breaking a sweat or movement, a concentrated dose of chi-based energy is expelled from Raul's palm.

FWOOSH!

"AHHHHHHH-!" Kiba yelled, as he was pushed through the canyon-laden valley. When he finally landed, pushed deep enough to form an imprint, Kiba shakes his head.

"Now, you REALLY made me mad-"

Cracks began to form on his skin, as internal flesh began to pop-out.

POP! POP! POP-!

Apparently, the first direct attack succeeded in causing a cascade of ruptured flesh, but it was the second attack, which shattered the armored shell, that allowed the first attack to do its intend job.

"ARRRRRRRGH-!" Kiba yelled, as his body exploded.

BLOOSH!

"Secure this ground, and destroy anything that is not useful to us," Raul finally said.

"Yes, sir-" Unger began.

"Sir!" said one of the troops, as he and a few others presented two women dressed in rags and barefooted, and was in a disheveled look. "We found these women in a secured place."

"We have no need for trollops!" Unger says.

"But sir, take a look at this one!" the troop said, as he brushed away the long hair of one of the women. "She has pointy ears!"

This caught Raul's attention. From a casual glance, Raul could tell that they had been repeatedly drugged and physically abused. However, his ability to read the auras of others told him an entire different story.

These women were living incarnations of a great power, and if he could somehow harness it…

"Sir, your orders?" Unger asked.

"Send a squad to escort these women to 'Cassandra', but I want you to insure that they remain weakened," Raul commands.

"Yes, sir," Unger replies, wondering why these women were important, and what was in store for them…

_Now._

"Please, stay," said Miriam, as she leaned on the door to her room. She wore only her bed sheet to over her body.

Ranma finished putting on his shoes, and looked his lover. Using his potent ki senses, he could already tell that Miriam was with child.

With a sigh, Ranma goes over to the girl, and takes her hand.

"I would love to stay, and have a normal life. You are a sweat girl."

"Oh, god," Miriam said. "You're dumping me."

"Please, hear me out. I would love to stay, but I have responsibilities out there. My friends need me to do what it takes to protect others from our mad world."

"I see…"

Ranma mused for a moment, and then thought of something.

"Here," Ranma says, as he takes off his locket. "This…is the most valuable thing that I own in this and any world. I want you to keep it for me until my return. Okay?"

Miriam accepted the locket into her hands.

"What is it?"

"Inside…are pictures of my family, before they died."

"O, I see…"

"Hey, now," Ranma said, as he raised Miriam's chin. "This is important to me, so you are doing me a great honor by keep this locket safe. You hear?"

"Well…okay, Ranma," Miriam says, as she holds the locket close to her bosom. "I'll keep it safe."

"Thanks," Ranma replied, as he gives Miriam one final hug before leaving her company.

A short time later, Ranma walks out on the front porch, where Miriam's parents were relaxing. Farming is a rare thing, especially since the Earth is still in its recovery state.

"Did you have fun with my daughter?" the father says happily.

"Hey!" Ranma replied.

"It's okay, dear," said the mother. "We wouldn't put up with you if we didn't think you were a good man."

"Well, I wish you two wouldn't be so…casual about it."

"Humph."

"Son, I need to know if you have…someone else in your life," the father asks. "So that I know where we all stand."

Ranma sighs.

"It's a bit complicated," Ranma says. "I've been married before, and have a casual thing with some of my female acquaintances."

"Ah, you are a ladies man," the father says with wink.

"Look, I have past relationships that I still have connections with," Ranma says. "And I have an open marriage with a few of them."

"Wow," the father replies. "And these women are fine with it?"

"Not always."

"Well, as long as you respect them, I'm sure that it will be okay," the mother says. "Normally, such a thing would be frowned upon by society," the father says…I know I would have before the war, when I was younger. But there isn't a society, is there?"

The father gets up from his chair.

"You see the field over there?"

Ranma scans the area. The vegetables were growing nicely. The reason why the family was attacked was because of their water supply, which is a commodity these days.

"Yes…"

"A lot of these plants was the result of cross-pollination of wild plants in the area. Normally, farmers wouldn't do such a thing, but I used crossbreeding between plants that survived the radiation with garden vegetables that could grow in harsher climates. If you didn't know by now, I used to be a botanist before the world went to hell."

Ranma nods his head, but couldn't shake the feeling that he was being used somehow…

"Son, YOU will be the basis of a better world, where good and decent men will build a better civilization. Heck, I bet that in a few hundred years from now, the very place we are standing on will be a city. Think about THAT possibility."

"Uh-huh," Ranma says, as he backs away. He didn't know who was more insane: the Judas or the father of the family that he had just saved. The last thing he wanted was to be seen as "raw material". Still, Miriam seemed to be a sincere girl, so Ranma decided to drop the matter.

"Look, I got to go," Ranma says, as he walks off. "Just be careful, okay?"

"We will do that, dear," the mother says. "Just keep safe!"

"Good luck, son!' the father says, as he smokes his pipe.

Ranma takes one last look at the older couple, before turning away.

_Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Southern Cross City…_

"Jill" surveyed the scenery above her, from her vantage point of the plateau above the city. The actual city was once a desert oasis in the southern conference, before the fall of civilization. While it had escaped the initial assault caused by the nuclear holocaust, the chaos that followed took a toll on the inhabitants. It took a splinter UN group known as "GOLAN" to secure the territory, but it was the "Southern Dipper Fist" practitioner Shin who would become ruler of the renamed city of "Southern Cross".

"Hmmm," Jill says, as she muses. Using a simple spell, learned while an apprentice of the ancient wizard Gandalf the Grey, Jill was using "The Gift of Far Sight" rote to scan the city. The wind whipped around Usagi's tattered, dirty Sailor fuku and her. Her graying hair, which is the result of her mood and Earth's present state, also blew in the winds. And while she was still pretty, her hard and haggard look contributed to the fact that she appeared like a person in her forties. In fact, if her mood doesn't change, Jill will get progressively worse, starting with the need to shave her legs.

Not that anyone cares in this wasteland.

"Usagi," says a voice from behind.

Jill turns to see Ken standing behind her.

"Your brother Raul has already entered the city with his forces," Jill replies.

"Is he heading for Shin's palace?"

"Yes, but not directly."

"Then there is no time to loose," Ken said, as he took off running, using enhanced 'ki'.

Usagi sighed, as she took off after her friend and teacher. However, unlike Ken, Usagi ran into trouble.

"HALT!"

"Hmmm?" Usagi said, as she made a stop. She was running so fast, that she ran straight into a defense garrison. From her vantage point, she sees four men, dressed in modern military fatigues (with red berets on).

"We cannot let you enter our city!" said the blond. "And you can't dress like THAT!"

"I have to see man by the name of Shin," Usagi replied. "And who cares how I am dressed?"

The dark-haired man of the group steps forward.

"Then…you have to be connected to Raul the Conqueror! He is the devil incarnate!"

"No, I'm not!" Usagi replied.

"Well, just the same, you better come with me," the soldier says, as he grabs Usagi's wrists. With ease, Usagi tossed him aside.

BAM!

There was a moment of silence, before the group form into a sentai team.

"We are 'Team GOLAN', and we are the chosen ones for the new 'Godland of Southern Cross!" the group said in unison. "And we will put you in your place, daughter of Eve!"

Usagi rolled her eyes. From her vantage point, doing those sentai poises looked pretty…stupid.

"Very well, 'Team GOLAN'," Usagi said, as she got into a fighting stance. "I'm ready."

The blond charges forward, and threw a volley of throwing knives at Usagi. To the ordinary person, the knives were invisible to the naked eyes. To a student of the North Star Fist…they seemed slow.

Ting! Ting! Ting-!

"Wha-?"

Usagi had all one dozen knives in her hands.

"If you are going to be serious, let me know," she smirked.

**Tbc.**


	7. The Fist and the Sword, Act 5

Samurai Jill – By DS Wynne

* * *

Disclaimer: None of the aforementioned characters belong to me.

Note: This is a multi-genre story.

* * *

Part 7: "The Sword and the Fist, Act 5"

* * *

Meanwhile…

Ranma was jogging across miles and miles of desolated wasteland, trying to catch up her traveling companions "Jill" and Ken. Having trained in Ken's martial arts style, "The Big Dipper Fist", Ranma's strength and stamina has increased significantly. Based upon what his sensei had said about the martial arts style, Ranma was surprised that Ken was willing to teach his Art to him and Usagi. However, he knew that Usagi's innate nature for goodness, and his own sense of justice, was what convinced the so-called "Fist of the North Star" to break with tradition by teaching the two of them his Art. Still, maybe Ken shouldn't have done so, after how freaky looking Usagi can appear when she's at maximum power…

Ranma's own mind thought back to his time with Miriam the Farmer's daughter. Even though he promised her a child, he didn't feel that it would be right to essentially abandon her with a kid. So, before "doing the deed", Ranma used certain pressure points on himself to induce temporary sterility. At least, he hoped so…

Eventually, after making to the main road that would lead to the City of the Southern Cross (where Shin's stronghold was located, and where the battle between Shin's army and Raul's army was waging), the martial artist was spotted by-

"Hey!"

"Hmm?" Ranma says, as he sees an approaching vehicle. Using his senses, he could tell that one of the passengers in the dune buggy had a lot of power…

"Hey, buddy," says the boy, who was driving the vehicle. "Where are you going?"

Ranma scans the vehicle. Besides the boy, there was a muscular, cyan-haired man, and there was a little girl holding a flowerpot…that had a single flower sprouting.

"Well, I was trying to track down some friends of mine in Southern Cross."

"I see. Well, we're heading for Cassandra to find a girl named Julia."

'Hmmm,' Ranma thought to himself. 'Could this 'Julia' be the one Ken has been talking about?'

"You can come with us, if you want, Mister," says the girl.

Ranma thinks for a moment. Ken was looking for his girlfriend. And if she were in Cassandra, Julia is going to need some help…

"Sure," Ranma replies.

"Great!" the boy says. "Hop on in!"

Ranma nods his head, and gets into the buggy.

"By the way, my name is 'Bart', this is 'Lynn', and this is…Ray."

Ray nods his head.

"What's your name?" Lynn asked.

Ranma was in the middle of thinking about the fact that he was JUST with Ray's ex-girlfriend…

"Mister?"

"Hmm?"

"Your name?"

"Oh. It's Ranma…Ranma Saotome," Ranma laughed, while rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that."

"Well, if you can figure out how to help pay for the gas later, we'll call it even," Bart says, before restarting the engine of his vehicle, before heading for Cassandra.

Meanwhile…

BOOM!

Sailor Moon leaped out of the way, as the GOLAN commando squad tried to launch mortar rounds at her…while in the middle of a war zone.

"Screw this!" 'Moon yelled, as she landed near the edge of a nearby building. Using what she learned about channeling energy from Ken, the Moon Princess used her mana to fuel her strength…and slammed her fist into the side of the structure.

BOOM!

The five-story building was cracked at its base, and began to fall towards the street, effectively separating herself from her attackers.

Now, normally, Moon would have engaged in the battle, but she figured out that GOLAN was merely trying to delay her for some reason.

Quickly, Sailor Moon runs up the side of another building, and leaps to another taller building.

THOOMP!

Training with a tribe of ape-men who have mastered the ability to leap at great distances and height (called simply "Jumping Good") proved to be a benefit…even if the training was tough.

'Moon rose to a standing position, while trying to scan the city.

"Hmmm," Sailor Moon says, as she observed the action within Cassandra. "It looks like Raul's forces are routing Shin's, but-"

'Moon spots a squad of Raul's men escorting a young woman towards the outskirts.

"Bingo."

And with that, 'Moon leaps off the roof, and lands in front of the men.

THOOM!

"Wh-what?" Julia says, as she was nearly shaken by Sailor Moon's impact, while the rest was scattered because of it.

"Sorry about that," 'Moon says, as she rose to a standing position. "My name is Sailor Moon, and I could see that you were being held against your will."

Julia smiles. She was about to say something when-

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaa-!" yelled the armored guardsmen, as they recovered, unsheathed their swords, and charged at Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon quickly dodged the first attack before punching the attacker in the stomach. The force of the attack sent her attacker into a nearby wall, splattering him in the process.

SPLAT!

"I better be careful, I guess," 'Moon says mockingly. "But since you wanted to play hardball…"

Sailor Moon brought out her "Moon Scepter" in one hand, and the magic sword that belonged to a samurai named "Jack".

"Any takers?"

The Raul's elite squad rushes forward. Each one was trained in the way of the blade, and who were the best of the best.

Unfortunately, for them, for all of their training, their best was not good enough. For every block or parry with her scepter, 'Moon attacked with her sword. And though the squad's armor was made from the most tempered steel available, it might as well be made from tissue paper.

THUNK!

SLICE-!

"Julia, are you okay?" 'Moon asked, as she places her weapons back into pocket space.

"I…I think so," Julia says. "How do you know my name?"

"The fact that you are not dead means that you're special. And I know that Ken considers you special."

"You know Ken?"

"Who do you think taught me the Big Dipper Fist?"

"Oh. But I have to get out of the city and find him."

"Actually, Ken's here. In fact, he's looking for Shin because of you."

"Oh. Then we should find him!"

"Alright, then let's go," 'Moon says, as she turns around, and-

SMACK!

Sailor Moon falls down on her behind.

Julia, upon seeing what had happened, gasped.

Sailor Moon looks up to see-

"Raul?"

Raul, dressed like a Barbarian King of old merely raises an eyebrow.

A few minutes later, Raul could be seen dragging a bruised Sailor Moon by her hair, while slinging Julia on his massive left shoulder.

Tbc.


	8. The Fist and the Sword, Act 6

SMST: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne

* * *

Disclaimer: None of the principle characters or situations belongs to me. 

Note: This is a multi-genre story

* * *

Part 8: "The Fist and the Sword, Act 6"

* * *

While unconscious, the one known as "Samurai Jill" dreams… 

"Oh, thank you for taking me out to dinner and a show, Mamo-chan," says Usagi Tsukino, as she hops and skips away from the movie theater with her boyfriend (and future husband) Mamoru Chiba. They had just finished seeing the action, martial arts movie "Kill Bill". Originally, the source material was made into two films after the studios felt that the movie was too long. Now, the studios have re-released it as a "director's cut". This means that Usagi, a fan of the movie's protagonist Beatrix Kiddo, could see the movie in one sitting. What made it a pleasurable experience was that she could see it with the love of her life…

"Any time, Usako," Mamoru replies. "If all goes well with this internship in America, there will be more of such occasions."

Usagi's face falters a bit.

"But…I don't want you to leave."

Mamoru stops for a moment to face the love of his life.

"It's only for a year, Usagi," Mamoru says, as he places his hands on Usagi's shoulders. "While there, I can get real-world experience while I go to school. And I'll be back during vacation time."

"But…well…"

"Please, just have faith in me."

Usagi looks into Mamoru's eyes.

"Well…okay. I trust your judgment…"

"I appreciate that-"

"But PROMISE me that you won't see other women?"

"Usagi, what?"

"Just promise? I…I don't know if you have been with someone, but I want us to have our first time together when we get married."

"…"

"Please?"

"Okay, I promise…IF you promise me that you will do well in school."

"I promise."

And with that, the two hugged…

"Aw, look at the love birds," says a nasty voice.

Mamoru and Usagi turn to see a gang approaching them.

"Um, may I help you?" Mamoru says, as he gets Usagi behind him.

"Yes, you can help us to your wallet," says the apparent leader, as his friends begin to circle the couple.

"No," Mamoru says. "We'll be going now-"

And that's when the gang attacked.

For a while, Mamoru had held his own, but apparently, some with the gang's group knew how to fight better.

"Please, don't!" Usagi says, as she grew angry while Mamoru was being pummeled. And the angrier she got, the stronger she was becoming…

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Usagi raged, as her frame expanded, as did her muscles. Her face took on an angular look.

"What the-?" the gang leader says, before-

"Yatatatatatatatatatatatatatata-!"

With fists of lightning, Usagi poked and prodded the bodies of every member of the gang before stopping.

"Wa-TA!"

"What the heck just happened?" says the gang leader, before-

BLOOSH!

-Before every member of the gang exploded into a fine mist.

"Mamo-chan, are you okay?" Usagi says in a manly voice. She tried to reach for her beloved, but-

SLAP!

Mamoru smacks Usagi's hand away.

"What ARE you?" Mamoru asked.

"It's me…your 'Usako'," Usagi says tearfully.

"No…NO YOU ARE NOT!" Mamoru cried. "USAGI IS NOT A FREAK…AND YOU ARE NOT USAGI!"

"No," Usagi shook her head. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO-!"

And that's when Samurai Jill woke up from her nightmare.

"It's just a dream," Usagi says, as she realized that she was still in chains. She knew that it was silly to believe that learning the Big Dipper Fist would automatically turn her into a man. Sure, she can increase her muscle mass for every iteration of chi pumped into her system, but Usagi made it a point to remain as feminine as possible…hence the emphasis on tightening her muscle structure rather than simply getting bigger-

"Hey, YOU!" yells a voice.

Usagi turns to see one of Raul's numerous, hulking minions.

"Yes?"

"We're about to enter the city of Cassandra, so you better be on your best behavior while the masses welcomes home King Raul."

"And if I don't?"

"I will PERSONALLY make you suffer!"

Usagi looks at the man, then at her chains. Although she couldn't move her arms much, she did notice that she could still flex her hands and fingers.

"Then we can't do that, huh?" Usagi says, as she reached over to the chief guard.

"What are you-?" the guard says, as Usagi grabbed his head.

CRUNCH!

POP!

"Humph," says Raul, as he returns his attention back towards the road ahead. "Still defiant as ever."

"Sir, may I punish her again?" asked the bearded Uighur, who looked like the Mongolian barbarian he claimed to be. Not that the fact that his towering, giant frame would NOT be so intimidating.

Raul looks back to see Julia comforting Usagi, whose back was scarred from many lashes…with each lash representing the number of men killed by her while being escorted to Raul's stronghold.

"No," Raul says.

"But sire-"

"I will not repeat myself," Raul says. "If 'Bunny' wanted to break free of her chains to kill you all, she would have done so already. She hasn't for Julia's sake."

"How can you say that?"

"Because she is trained in the sub-style of my Art: the Little Dipper Fist."

"So, what is the difference?"

"Like my brothers and I, she knows the body's pressure points, and possesses the physical ability to move mountains. However, that is NOT her true strength."

"So, what IS her strength?"

"Have you ever heard of the story of Hercules and Antaeus?"

"No, I haven't."

"Antaeus was said to draw his strength from the very Earth itself, being a child of Gaea, and could only be defeated by being removed from that environment."

"Oh, I guess so..."

"The Fist of the North Star are divided into the two schools of thought: internal and external, although the initiates of both schools begin his or her training the same way. And from my studies, I have learned that the internal aspect is designed to take advantage of the physiology of the female body, by linking her directly to the 'dragon lines' of the planet itself. Males, on the other hand, can only tap into those same 'lines' for short period of times."

"So, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that while Bunny is not powerful in the short run, in the long run, she'll become the most powerful warrior on the planet, since she, as a woman, will one day be able to draw her strength from the Earth itself with her mastery over her own 'chi'. And the funny thing is that she doesn't even know of her own potential…just like my foolish little brother doesn't know HIS."

Raul pauses for a moment.

"And I will see to it that Bunny harnesses that potential…or Julia will DIE."

Tbc.


	9. The Fist and the Sword, Act 7

**SMST: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: "SM", "R1/2", "ST" and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 9**

* * *

At the same time Raul returned to his stronghold in Cassandra, four important "players" arrive…

"So, this is Cassandra," Ranma mused, as he sat in the back.

"Yeah, pretty something, huh?" Bart says, as he slows his racer. "Too bad the leader of these people is such a jerk."

"Jerk, huh?"

"Jerk or not, we need to stop and get supplies," Ray says.

Lynn nods her head, as she holds her potted plant. The plant represented a chance for humanity to get itself out of the muck that was…The Rifts…

The Rifts was a phenomenon that was set off during a near-nuclear exchange between two South American countries. Normally, only the parties involved in the exchange would have been affected. However, due to the fact that exchange occurred over a dormant, yet powerful, "ley line nexus" (called the "Dragon Lines" in Eastern metaphysical philosophy). When that happened, the Earth's energy spiked out of control, and crisscrossed across the planet, killing billions of people in the process. Those that survived faced the influx of supernatural elements, the likes the world has not seen since the days of Middle Earth. Still, in spite of the arrival of the Seventh Age of Man, and the return of magic into the world, human genius survived long enough to continue to perfect Man's knowledge of hyper-science and technology. Eventually, this would enable human beings to compete with the supernatural in this brave, new world on equal grounds. Until that happens, the flower that is "hope" must be protected during this "Second Dark Age"…

"Hey, Lynn, you okay?" Bart asked.

"Hmm?" Lynn responded.

"I asked you if you were okay."

"Oh, yes. I was…just thinking about the future, that's all."

"Well, it's the only thing we can do, if humanity is suppose to have a future," Ray says.

"If we're going to do this, then we best be sure to do so incognito," Ranma says.

"You're telling me?" Bart says.

Minutes later, the four mills about the crowd. Apparently, Raul has returned from his latest conquest. As Raul and his troops marched down the streets, the people on the sidelines began to chant.

"KING RAUL! KING RAUL! KING RAUL-!"

"Huh," Ranma says with a smirk.

"I take it that you don't like Raul?" Ray asks.

"It's that obvious?"

"It certainly is-"

During the chant, a hench goes down the line…

"Louder!" the henchman yells. "And stay on message! Welcome the lord of the land, King Raul-"

The henchman notices that one of the chanters was off cadence.

"Didn't you HEAR me?" the henchman yells, as he uses his one of his big hand to envelop the head of one of the chanters. And then he began to squeeze.

"Teach proper respect!"

"Ahh-!"

However, before the henchman could complete his terrible, punitive act, he felt strong hands grab HIS outstretched wrist.

CRACK!

"Ahhhh!" the henchman yelled, as he lets go. He whirled about, trying to find who could have injured him, but to no avail.

"Please don't hurt me!" pleads to would-be victim.

The henchman stares at the man. He wanted to finish what he has started, but he wasn't sure if he would be killed on the spot or not.

"Grrrr…just don't make any make any more mistakes next time…or ELSE!"

"Y-yes, sir."

Ray, who was seeing all this, turns to the culprit.

"You really have to be careful, Ranma," Ray says.

"I know, but I won't stand by and allow these freaks to do what they want."

"Yeah."

"Hey, guys, have you seen Lynn?" Bart asked.

"I thought she was with you," Ray replied.

"Well-"

"Guys, guys!" Lynn says, as she runs up. "I think I saw Julia."

"Julia?" Ranma asked.

"And not only that, I saw Usagi with her and two other ladies."

Ranma kneels.

"Lynn, did one of the other ladies have pointy ears?" Ranma asked.

"Pointy ears?" Bart asked. "She sounds like one of those elves that been appearing lately."

"Um, I think so."

"Then it looks like your friends are also here," Ray says.

"I know," Ranma says. "And I wouldn't be surprise if we have to go through Raul to bust my friends out!"

A short time later, Raul dismounts from his mighty steed in the courtyard of his fortress. He sees Usagi and the other women been dragged from the open truck bed.

"Sir, what shall we do with them?" says his chief enforcer "Uighur" (or simply "Ogre").

Raul looks at Ogre and then at the women.

"Have the Dumpling-Headed wench come with me; take the rest to dungeons."

"No!" Hoshi yells, as she struggles. "Leave Usagi alone-!"

"Hoshi, stop!" Usagi yells. "Please…don't."

"But-"

"It'll be okay."

Hoshi looks at Usagi with a defeatist look. And then, she goes into kiss her friend with a full kiss on the lips before being dragged away.

"Good luck, Usagi," T'Pol says, before disappearing.

"How sentimental," Raul says, before turning towards the entrance of his private quarters. For the longest time, Raul says nothing…

Soon, Usagi found herself in the middle of a large room. There was nothing but stone and mortar.

Raul stops.

"Strip her," Raul says, not turning around.

"Hey!" Usagi yells, as rough hands grabs her person. When she notices a knife present, Usagi was more still, as her clothes were cut away from her body. When it was over, Usagi, still chained, tried to cover herself with her hands.

"Now leave us," Raul commands.

"Yes, sir!" says a henchman, as he remove himself and what was left of Usagi's clothes.

CHOOM!

And now, Raul and Usagi were alone.

"So, this is it, huh?" Usagi says. "You're going to assault me to get your jollies off, right?"

Raul smirks, as he takes off his cape.

"Well?"

"Do not think me as so base as to have sexual relations with an asset," Raul says, as he removes his helmet. "You are FAR more valuable to me intact…than broken."

Raul turns around to see Usagi. Inwardly, the female was quite attractive. However, his ultimate goal of perfecting "The God Fist" was paramount. Ignoring his own burning physical need, Raul goes over to Usagi, and pulls her along to a wall that had shackles.

"Huh, kinky."

"For what I need to do, I require you nude," Raul says, as he fastens Usagi to the new chains. He goes over to a standalone wooden table. On top were a small wooden box, a small, white basin, a pitcher and a towel.

"What's THAT?" Usagi asked, as she watched Raul's action.

"The martial arts are more than simply learning how to hit or kick. The martial arts entail the intrinsic methods of perfecting the body. Ryuken foolishly tried to tell my brother Ken this…to no avail. I, who went beyond mere physical perfection, was shunned…and discredited for being too ambitious. Bah. I shall complete my studies with your help."

Raul takes the pitcher and pours the contents into the basin. He then opens the box, and pulls out a powder of some kind, and pours some of the powder into the basin. Raul then washed his hands thoroughly, before drying them with his towel. Finally, he opens the small box, and pulls out some sort of cloth that was rolled up. He laid down the cloth, and unrolls it, revealing-

"Acupuncture needles?" Usagi says.

"They are a part of the intrinsic method," Raul says.

"You better be careful with that," Usagi says. "You don't want to be known as 'Raul the Geek'."

"I seriously doubt that anyone would dare to be so bold as to give me a designation."

And with that, Raul grabbed the needles in one hand, and threw them at Usagi.

TIK-TIK-TIK-TIK-!

"Ah!" Usagi yelps, as the needles were stuck into key pressure points all over her body. She attempted to move, but found that she was paralyzed.

"Uhhhhhh…"

"In order to perfect 'The God Fist', the male energy and the female energy must be as one. I, of course, cannot accept the female energy, but you can accept the male energy. Normally, sexual gratification by way of the tantric arts will allow this process to occur. However, given the fact that I want you 'intact', I have developed a method that will…speed the process. You might say that what I am about to do is some kind of…magic."

With that, Raul sits down in a lotus position, which was amazing considering his huge size. Now fully in front of Usagi, Raul charged his aura, until the very room seemed to pulse with power. Slowly, but surely, Raul directed his power into Usagi through the contact points of the acupuncture needles.

"Urk!"

Usagi, unable to move or speak coherently, watched as her flesh began to pulse and jiggle. Her flesh was charged with power, as Usagi became more sensitive. Slowly, her muscles, already defined from training in the Little Dipper Technique, began to grow bigger. Her bones cracked and creaked, as her enhanced metabolism allows new cells to fill in the gaps.

"Soon, you will…complete," says Raul, as he continued his work.

"Ranma…" Usagi says, as tears fell from her eyes.

**Tbc.**


	10. The Fist and the Sword, Act 8

**SMST: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: "SM", "R1/2", "ST" and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 10**

* * *

Later that night…

"Then it's agreed then," Ranma says. "I'll go in and bust the girls out, and come out."

"I want to come with you," Lynn says.

"Kid, you're only going to get in the way."

"Aw, come on, Ranma," Bart says. "If you're some ultra-bad arse, you'll be able to protect Lynn WHILE getting in and out a fortress."

"Heh, he got you there," Ray says.

"In his dreams," Ranma says. "Fine, LYNN can come…and only Lynn."

"Hey, I'm the one who made the suggestion!"

"So? You want a medal or something?"

"Humph!"

"Don't worry about us, Ranma," Ray says, as he places a hand on Bart's shoulder. "We'll be fine."

"Be right back, Bart!" Lynn says enthusiastically.

"Oh, why can't I have all the adventures?" Bart says, as he folds his arms.

Meanwhile…

"It is finished," Raul says, as he opens his eyes to see Usagi unconscious from her ordeal. The warlord stands to examine his…alterations.

"Yes," Raul says approvingly. "The male energy is in synch with Little Bunny's female energy."

Raul pauses.

"So, what do you think, Little Bunny?"

Usagi's ragged breathing was her only response.

"Humph, I did not expect you to respond. No matter…it is time to complete your 'alteration'."

With that, Raul pressed upon the pressure points on Usagi's head. If nothing else, practitioners of the "Big Dipper Technique" and the "Little Dipper Technique" were experts on the usage of the acupuncture method and pressure points. So changing one's mind was as easy as changing one's body.

"After all, I cannot allow my own weapon to have free will…"

Meanwhile…

"Ugh, I HATE going through that sewer," Ranma says, as he kept Lynn above the murky water.

Lynn merely giggled.

"Okay," Ranma says, as he puts Lynn on a stone step. "Let's go find our friends…"

After sneaking about the basement, Ranma and Lynn came upon the section that led the dungeon. Standing by the entrance were two, armored guards, both of whom were seven foot tall.

"Damn, mutant freaks," Ranma mutters to himself. For some reason, maybe due to the radiation, or due to the return of magic, there were WAY too may guys running around with physical proportions that defy logic. In fact, some of them were mutating further…into ogres, uruk-hai and trolls. In fact, a lot of humans were mutating into various fae species as the result of this strange, new environment. He'll have to talk to T'Pol about this at the earliest opportunity…

"What are we going to do, Ranma?" Lynn asked.

"Hmmm," Ranma mused. He didn't want to alert Raul to his presence, and close-quarter combat would do just that. So…

"Lynn, you wait around the corner," Ranma says, as he directs Lynn to hide around the corner. "And whatever you do, DO NOT MOVE."

"Okay," Lynn says, as she nods her head, while being moved to the side around the corner.

"Now, when I tell ya to, follow me," Ranma says, as he goes around the corner.

Lynn sighs, as she hugs the potted plant.

Just before Ranma gets into visual range, he changes his gender…

"Yoo-hoo!" says a sweet voice.

The guards refocus their thoughts, and spot a buxom, teenaged girl with fiery red hair, that was tied in a pigtail.

"Do you want to…'play'?" Ranma-onna says demurely, as she exposes her ample cleavage.

Now hypnotized, the guards failed to notice that they were being set up for a twin "upper-cut".

POW!

After making sure that the guards were unconscious, Ranma-onna returns to her normal form.

"Lynn, come on!" Ranma says, as he beckons Lynn.

Lynn looks around to see the fallen guards.

"What happened?" Lynn asked.

"They fell into a 'booby-trap'," Ranma says simply, as he pulled a perplexed Lynn forward.

Meanwhile, Raul the Conqueror looks out into the darkness from his tower. He was in deep thought on the meaning of power…

"And thus my grand experiment is complete," Raul mused. "It is interesting that the so-called 'Moon Princess' could hold so much power, and thoroughly wastes it."

He turns to his creation, as she steps out to join her master. The woman was thick with muscles, and was taller than most men. Her face was harsher and angular, though there was still a hint of feminine attraction. Her attire was a single-piece leather outfit that seemed to be continuous, as attest to the fact that the stiletto heels were attached to the suit.

"Lord Raul, how may I serve you?" Usagi asked demurely, as she places a gloved hand on her master's bulging biceps.

"There is another ally of my brother Ken," Raul says. "From my interrogation of you, this…Ranma Saotome will surely find you."

Raul turns to the muscle-bound girl. His energy was in Usagi, and it will be that energy that will strive her to seek power…long after his own demise. Ultimate control of her will…not so much. Still, the immediate effects of his conditioning will prove to be most interesting.

"When this Ranma arrives, you are to kill him."

Usagi smiles broadly…with glazed eyes.

"Of, course, Lord Raul."

Meanwhile…

After running down the corridor, Ranma sees two women in one cell, and one woman in another cell.

"T'Pol, Hoshi!" Ranma yelled, as he goes to the cell holding his friends.

The aforementioned women perk up.

"Ranma!" Hoshi yells, as she runs to the cell. She began crying, and holding onto to her sometime lover…

"You have found us," T'Pol says, as she goes to the cell bars.

"I see that confinement has not changed your disposition," Ranma says, as he inspects the bars holding his friends.

"Ranma, a man named Raul has Usagi," Hoshi says.

Ranma thinks for a moment.

"Alright," Ranma says, as he begins to bend the bars. "Let me get you two out of here."

"What about Usagi?"

"First things first. I'll get you out of here, and come for Usagi later."

Meanwhile, Lynn goes to the other cell.

"You…you must be Julia," Lynn says.

The orange-haired woman turns to see the little girl.

"You…you know me?"

"Uh-huh," Lynn says. "We're here to get you out."

Julia was about to say something, but looks down instead.

"No, I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because if I disappear, the people will suffer."

"You will suffer regardless, Julia," T'Pol says, as Ranma bends the metal bars apart.

"And Ken is trying to find you," Lynn says.

Julia sighs.

"No, I have made up my mind."

"Then take this," Lynn says, as she gives Julia the flowerpot and single flower.

Julia accepts the pot.

"Thank you."

"Are you SURE you want this?" Hoshi says as she steps close to the bars holding Julia.

"Yes. Maybe my presence will keep Raul's terrible fury in tact."

"Then take care of yourself, Julia," T'Pol says.

And with that, everyone, save for Julia leaves. An hour later, Raul and Usagi appear in front of Julia's cells. Julia, seeing Usagi, gasps at her appearance.

"Usagi, what happened to you?" Julia asked.

Usagi, still grinning, presses her face against the bars.

"Lord Raul remade me in his image," Usagi says.

Raul looks at the empty cage, and then at Julia's.

"It seems that your friend has entered the premises," Raul says. "And because of his foolish actions, he'll have to deal with the consequences."

A little bit later…

"Easy, Hoshi," Ranma says, as Hoshi was kissing Ranma roughly.

"I'm sorry about that, but…it's been too long since I've seen you," Hoshi says. "You don't know what I've been going through."

After returning to the impromptu campsite, a plan of action was discussed before turning in for the night.

"Hoshi, it doesn't matter now, okay? You're safe with me right here, right now."

Hoshi smiles, as she lay in Ranma's arms, while Ranma thinks about what was going to take to free Usagi from Raul's clutches.

**Tbc.**

* * *

**Author's note: Next time is "Ranma versus Usagi". See you next time…**


	11. The Fist and the Sword, Final

**SMST: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: "SM", "R1/2", "ST" and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 11**

* * *

_In the Beginning, there were four practitioners of the "Fist of the North Star", or simply "The Big Dipper God Fist":_

_There was Kenshiro the Bearer, who carried the legacy that was the "God Fist" while protecting the innocent._

_There was Taki the Healer, who stressed the intrinsic nature of the "God Fist", while comforting the people in their time of need._

_There was Raoh the Dragon, who pushed the power of the extrinsic nature of the "God Fist", in his quest to conquer the known world._

_And there was Jagi the Traitor, who perfected the dark aspects of the family Art—known as "The Devil Fist" to corrupt what Raoh did not destroy or conquer._

_And for a while, there was balance amongst the four, at least for a little while._

_However, their stories did not end there._

_The legendary "Sun Prince" and the "Moon Princess" discovered an injured Kenshiro, who had been betrayed by a childhood friend. On Kenshiro's direction, they found his older brother Taki, who used his prowess to heal his younger brother. In repayment of the life debt Kenshiro had accrued, the practitioners of the God Fist broke tradition, and shared their Art to these strangers. The result was the creation of the branch school known as "The Little Dipper God Fist". Unlike the Big Dipper arts, the Little Dipper arts were designed for those practitioners who were either agile, female or both, and possessed a natural affinity for speed. To be sure, both arts employ pressure point attacks as well, but only Kenshiro knew the secret techniques that were a pre-requisite in being the 64__th__ Grandmaster of the God Fist._

_Nevertheless, the Sun Prince and Moon Princess grew stronger because of their respective training. However, it was the Moon Princess who caught the eye of Raoh, who sought to use her to explore the true potential of the God Fist. Thus, after being captured, Raoh transformed her into a living weapon. Worse, thanks to Raoh's twisted sense of duty to the ethos of his martial arts style, the Moon Princess has been conditioned to kill the Sun Prince… least said prince becomes a thorn in Raoh's plan…_

* * *

The next day, the people of Cassandra lined up in the city square, as Julia was tied onto a cross, before being hefted high into the air.

Urghur, Raoh's general, steps forth while Raoh watched the crowd. Standing off to the side was a masked woman whose face and identity was totally covered up. Her leather body suit hugged her form like a second skin. She, too, watched the crowd.

"People of Cassandra!" Urghur called out. "Last night, two of our prisoners escaped captivity. And in a display of utter audacity to the rule of our king, they left a flower. For that, this woman, Julia, will pay the price…and that is death by the lash!"

"No!" Lynn called out, only to be held back by Bart.

"However, the woman may live…if you volunteer to take her place."

"We got to do something!" Bart says.

Ray looks over to Ranma.

"Your call," Ray says.

Earlier, Bart and Lynn had sneaked back into town without anyone noticing. So with Hoshi and T'Pol safe, Ray and Ranma went searching for the kids…and it looks like it was a good thing that they did go looking for them.

"It isn't Urghur that I'm concerned," Ranma says. "It's Raoh."

Pause.

"Oh, well," says Ranma with a smile. "I didn't learn martial arts just for the exercise…"

Ray nods his head. He then turns to the kids.

"You two stay out of trouble," Ray says, as he places a hand on Bart's left shoulder.

"But Ray-" Lynn begins.

"Be good, okay?" Ray says.

Lynn only nodded her head.

Ranma and Ray take a look at each other, and then moved forward through the crowd, and into the open.

"You!" Ranma called out.

All heads turns to Ranma and Ray.

"I gave the flower to Julia!"

"And I helped," Ray says.

Raoh merely smirked, while the leather latex-wearing, muscular female turns to face the pigtailed young man.

"Grrrr!" Urghur (or simply "Ogre") growled, as he cracks his whip. "You shall pay for that!"

Raoh (or "Raul") motions his head towards Ranma, causing the female to move forward.

"Huh, figures," Ranma smirked, as he cracked his knuckles. "I always have to get the chick."

"You two will pay for interfering with destiny," Raul says. "Ogre? Bunny? KILL."

'Bunny?' Ranma thought, as 'Bunny' moved faster than he had anticipated, and had seemingly glided across the ground.

FIST!

Bunny immediately used her fists in a "downward punch" motion. Although Ranma dodged the attack, the force of the attack had caused the ground to split open…and cuts to form on Ranma's face and skin.

'This is going to be problematic,' Ranma thought to himself. And then he thought about the innocents amongst the crowd…

Ranma stands back, as he waits to see 'Bunny' make her next move. But first-

"Sharingan," Ranma says, as his eyes changes to a red color with three tomoe marks within. Although Ranma can read auras, he wanted to make sure that the person he was fighting was not-

"USAGI?" Ranma exclaimed.

In his mind's eye, Ranma could see the enhanced version of his long time friend, her true appearance and Raoh's aura. In fact, that aura seems to dominate Usagi somehow…

"Usagi, what are you doing?"

Bunny pulls off her mask. She still had the same wide grin and glassy stare. Her 'Moon Mark" was exposed.

"Lord Raoh told me to kill you," Usagi says. "Therefore, I must kill you."

Ranma quickly formulated a plan.

"Ray, I need to move my fight elsewhere!" Ranma called out. "Don't do anything rash before I get back!"

"Just do what you have to do!" Ray says, as he prepares to fight Ogre.

Ranma then focused his thoughts on Usagi.

"If you want to kill me…come and get me!"

And with that, Ranma took off and ran, with Usagi in hot-pursuit.

TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA-!  
As Ranma "zigzags" through the ruined portion of Cassandra at "invisible speed" (so fast that no one would be able to see him), his mind was a whirl with questions. The last time he had seen her, her aura was never this intense. Worse, Usagi looked like she had abused steroids, but did not sacrifice her beauty. Furthermore, Ranma noticed that she had an increase height, from her normal 5 feet, 3 inches, to at least 6 feet, 1 inch.

"I got it," Ranma says to himself. "Somehow, that jerk Raoh used pressure points and 'chi' to enhance Usagi, as well as manipulate her. I'll just undue what HE did-"

Thoom! Thoom! Thoom! Thoom! THOOM!

Usagi had gone through several buildings as if they were not even present. She skidded to a stop.

"You have to fight me, Ranma Saotome," Usagi says, as her aura crackled. "That is the way of the God Fist."

Ranma thinks for a moment, as a strategy popped into his head…

"As you wish," Ranma says, as he gets into a loose stands.

Usagi cocks her head, and then gets into a fighting stance.

For a long time, there was nothing but silence…save the rumbles in distance…

Suddenly, Usagi attacked Ranma again, and began to rein a deadly combination of punches and kicks. And with each successful blow struck, Ranma countered with a poke at Usagi's pressure points around her arms and upper torso…some of which rubbed her the wrong way.

SLAP!

Ranma careened straight into a building, cause it to collapse.

"PERVERT!" Usagi screamed, as she used her arms to protect her chest.

Ranma sits up from the rubble he had inadvertently made.

"I apologize for that, but it's for your good. And I will have to do touch you like that again."

Ranma gets up, and charges forward, read to attack.

"Oh, no you don't!" Usagi says, as she cocks her legs. At least minute, she began to snap-kick the very hair, causing direct pressure with enough force to destroy several buildings in the process.

THOOM! THOOM! THOOM-!

Guessing that Usagi was too embarrassed to wage an effective attack, Ranma easily dodges the attack. And, at the last minute, Ranma moves underneath her to poke her some more, around her legs and lower torso.

POKE! POKE! POKE-!

"AH!" Usagi yelps, as she collapses unto the ground.

Quickly, Ranma gets behind her, and began to press several points on her back-

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Usagi screamed, as she flashed her aura, knocking Ranma backwards.

Ranma gritted his teeth, as he gets up. He then pulls out an old yen piece.

"Good thing these things are worthless," Ranma says, as he focused his thoughts to perform a special tecnhnique…

"Happo Fifty-Yen Shiatsu!"

Moments later, Ranma began to draw out Usagi's energy. However, part of her aura took the form of-

"Raoh?" Ranma yelled, as the invasive energy began attacking Ranma.

"Argh!" Ranma says, as he crumbled a bit.

The aura roared, and was just about to attack again when-

"Moon Power…Transform!"

The aura turns to realize that it being dislodged, even slightly, was enough to get Usagi lucid enough to re-establish control of herself.

Sailor Moon stands, though she still felt the affects of Ranma's actions somewhat. She then places the palms of her hands together.

"Moon Aura…ASCENSION!"

Sailor Moon began to flush the alien aura from her system. In the process, it was dying.

"Noooo," says the Shadow Raoh. "I only wanted to make you stronger. Don't kill me…"

In spite of the violence, in spite of what had been done to her, Sailor Moon could not bring herself to kill the intruder.

"Alright, but I'M in charge, okay?" Sailor Moon says.

"Of course," Shadow Raoh says. "You have proven yourself strong…"

And with that, Shadow Raoh returns to its dormant state within Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon sighs, wondering if she did the right thing. Then again, she did get stronger-

Suddenly, she remembers something.

"Ranma!" Sailor Moon says, as she rushes to her friend's side. She immediately hugs Ranma.

"Oh, Ranma, I'm SO sorry."

"Mmmph!" Ranma tried to say, as his face was buried in his friend's chest.

"Oh," Sailor Moon says, as she released her friend. "Sorry…"

"So," Ranma says, as he wipes the dirt off of him.

"So," Sailor Moon says.

"You're looking…well."

"Oh. Okay…"

BOOM!

Sailor Moon and Ranma turns to see the near-apocalyptic disaster that was occurring back where Ray was fighter Ogre.

"We better hurry!" Ranma says. "Are you…up to it?"

"Please," Sailor Moon says. "Roah doesn't own me. Although, I do like that leather outfit with stiletto heels that he had given me."

"…"

Later…

With the destruction of Cassandra, and the disappearance of Raoh, life was returning to normal, such as it was.

"Thank you for saving me…and for saving Ken," Julia says, as she hugged Ranma and Usagi, with Ken standing there.

"No problem," Usagi says. "Ranma and I owe it to Ken…and to his brother Toki."

"Any time you need my help, let me know," Ken says.

"Same here…Grandmaster."

And with that, Usagi and Ranma bows.

A short while later…

"Well, we better be off," Ray says, as he loads his pack into the vehicle.

"Where are you off too?" Usagi asks.

"I…I decide to return home and settle-down with my sweetheart."

"Heh," Ranma says, as he rubbed the back of his head. "That's…good to know."

"Take care!" Bart says.

"Good-bye!" Lynn says.

And with that, they, too, disappear as well.

"Well, we better get back to camp," Ranma began. "The others are waiting for us-"

"No," Usagi says.

Ranma turns around. That's when he sees her gear in hand.

"Usagi…?"

"I still have to find 'Jack', and this is something I have to do alone."

Usagi then moves in to kiss Ranma intimately.

"What's that for?" Ranma asks.

"A down payment for a future date," Usagi says with a nod and a wink. "And tell Hoshi and T'Pol that I will be fine."

"But-"

"Don't worry," Usagi says, as she reveals four talismans attached to leather ropes. "I got these out of Roah's stash of treasures. We'll be able to keep in touch at least three times a day."

Usagi hands three of the talismans to Ranma.

"I got them when I went searching for Jack's sword."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ranma asked.

"I do, Ranma. I need to know my own limits, and I DID give my word."

Ranma nods his head.

"Take care of yourself, Usagi," Ranma says.

And with that, Ranma leaves.

A tear fell from Usagi's eyes as she wraps her cloak around her body, before putting on her ladies Stetson hat (i.e. cowboy/girl). She slings her pack, then her guitar…and then Jack's sword.

And, with that, Usagi continues her journey…

**Tbc.**

* * *

**Next time: "The End of A Story"**


	12. End of a Story, Act 1

**SMST: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: "SM", "R1/2", "ST" and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 12: "End of a Story" (I).**

* * *

Months after the events that led to the dissolution of Raoh the Conqueror's grand army, the one known as "Samurai Jill" finds her herself back in what used to be known as the Untied States of America. Like most hegemonies and empires, America collapsed when the war between nations burned the skies, and brought about "The Rifts". There were still pockets of human civilization all around the continent, including the United States, but new horrors—mythic and alien alike—were making things difficult for the human survivors to adapt. Still, humanity was adapting, hence the return of elements from the so-called "Mythic Age". Human mystics and all related occupations were being adopted. After all, not everyone had access to hyper-science and technology to defend themselves against death and destruction…

Jill, also known as 'Usagi Tsukino', had purposely journeyed westward, having been inspired by tales of the Monkey King. Most importantly, however, Jill wanted some time to herself, as she adjusted to her new circumstances. She didn't mind the forced growth spurt and increased muscle math. To be honest, Jill was always jealous of those bigger than herself, like her being jealous of her dear friend Mokoto ("Sailor Jupiter") Kino.

"Feh…be careful what you wish for," Jill would say to herself.

On this day, having returned to America, Jill picked up rumors that Jack was being held prisoner somewhere out West. She wouldn't have put much stock in those rumors, had it not been for the fact that Jack's mystic sword possessed an ability to discern truth from non-truth. Such a sword could easily destroy the demon lord "Aku", which is why Aku feared the sword. Nevertheless, Jill began her trek past the Mississippi River, and into "No-Man's Land"…

Usagi rose out of her sleeping bag feeling refreshed. Due to the fact that modern convenience, such as a Laundromat, was virtually non-existing, she usually relaxes and bathes in the nude. She knew that such a thing, especially for a female, was a foolish thing, especially in light of the many roving bands of marauders and monsters that plagued the landscape. However, given her recent "upgrade" in personal power by her…master Raoh, Usagi had no problems in defending herself if necessary.

The keeper of the mystic sword leaves her tent, and greets the dawning of the Sun with her body. She looked at her form, and wonder how many more months will it take to switch from being "bulky" to just lean. She purposely kept a strict routine of diet and exercise to prevent her body from getting flabby.

With a stretch of her limbs, Usagi dives into a nearby stream for her morning bath…

Later, as Usagi dries her hair over roasted boar, she thinks about her friends Hoshi, T'Pol and…

"Ranma," Usagi sighs. For some reason, she has been thinking about the roguish martial artist in a romantic way, even though they have been close friends practically forever.

'Why am I thinking about him like that?' Usagi says. 'Sure, we've been intimate, but I never saw myself falling in love…'

Suddenly, Usagi hears a blood-curdling cry, prompting Usagi to pick up Jack's sword. Event though she was wearing only a loin cloth and a bikini top, since she was still getting herself ready, Usagi was not distracted by the lack of clothes. In fact, she could fight in the nude if necessary…unarmed. After all, she was trained by Raoh to be a living weapon.

Quickly, Usagi runs through the brush, which used to be a cornfield, and immediately attack some marauders with her sword.

"Aiyaa!" Usagi says, as she cut a deadly arc that cut down the attackers.

Upon seeing this deadly vixen at work, the remaining marauders scurried off.

Usagi scanned the area to make sure that the threat was gone, before seeing what was the problem-

'There,' Usagi says, as she realizes that a boy has lost his parents.

The boy rocked back and forth, as Usagi knelt besides the bodies. He appeared to be Asian, even though the adults were not.

"It's going to be okay," Usagi says gently. "We'll make it through together-"

"Ha, fat chance," says a voice.

Usagi swings her sword at ready, as she spots a strange man. He appeared to be dressed in a dapper suit and tie, wore a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, had a guitar slung on his back WITH his sword, and carried an umbrella in hand.

"Who are you?" Usagi demanded.

"Who am I?" the man says, as he folds his umbrella. "I'm the man who was told that a girl named 'Jill' was looking for a guide through 'Wonderland' to 'Lost Vegas'."

"Oh," Usagi says, as she lowered her sword. "You must be 'Buddy'."

"And you must play a mean guitar," Buddy says, as he tosses Usagi's pink Gibson guitar. "Nice to meet a fellow samurai…"

In the wilds of America sprung up many sorts of paladins, including the so-called "American Samurai". No one knew exactly when this had occurred, but this breed of men and women roam "Wonderland"—what used to be known as the American southwest, and named after the nickname of the former secret American facility known as "Area 51"—protecting the weak and helpless on behest of "The King". The only prerequisite in being a samurai in these lands is a good arm for both sword and string instrument, usually, though not limited to, a guitar. And somehow, these samurai are able to channel their own energy into their sword and string instrument—even if acoustic—to create fantastical effects. Some would argue that 'knight' would be a better designation, since these people are "Western". However, the counter-argument is that being a samurai was cooler, and that there are already knights who roam the Americas…known as 'Cyber-Knights'. Besides, being a samurai was WAY cooler.

"Who was your 'master'?" Buddy asked. "In string and in sword."

"A Beatle taught me how to play, actually," Usagi says. "But I've always been good with a sword."

"Really now?" Buddy says with a smirk. "I guess there will always be groupies."

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Life seldom is, especially to the Kid."

Usagi looks over the boy who was still weeping for his dead parents…

"Point taken. Look, can you help me take care of these bodies? And can the kid come with us?"

"If want the ride, you pay cab."

"Fine, I'll increase your payment."

"Now, we're taking…"

With paper money being worthless, human beings have turned to the gold standard, silver and precious gems for currency.

Usagi reached into 'pocket space', and pulls out a small sack of gold coins.

"Here," Usagi says, as she tosses the sack to Buddy, who caught it easily enough.

"Neat trick," Buddy says, as he inspects the coins. "This will do, but YOU are responsible for the rug-rat's upkeep."

"Gee, thanks."

After burying the dead, and after getting fully dressed, Buddy, Usagi and the Kid (who wore a raccoon-skin cap) trek out of the mountains and into the lower levels that was the desert. Eventually, they hit the main road, and began to travel down its once busy lane. Classic-style rock-and-roll music could be heard in the distance.

"Uhhh!" the Kid says, as he tugs on Usagi's sleeve.

"Yes?" Usagi says, as she turns to look at the boy.

"Huh-uh!" the boy says, as he points to a village.

Usagi looked over, and noticed how much of a dive it was. In fact, part of the building was collapsed, and yet there were people out and about.

"I know. We'll get something to eat, okay?"

"Huh!"

Usagi smiles, as she and the boy continue on their path.

Meanwhile, Buddy enters the facilities, just as the band of music-playing mercenaries, known as the "Red Elvises" ceased their playing.

"The one with the six-string is here," one member of the band says.

"We can collect the bounty on his for the Slasher," another band member says.

As Buddy passes by, the band continues to play. They want to catch Buddy off-guard before striking. Plus…they want to get paid first.

Meanwhile, Usagi and Kid enter the premises. A Latino wearing a sombrero looks up from playing his instrument. He, too, was a samurai, as were many of the other patrons within.

"Just stay close-" Usagi began to say, before she felt some pinching her on the butt. Quickly, she turns in the direction of the offender.

"Heh," smirks the man. "How about you coming with me for some fun?"

Usagi simply stares at the man, as the shadow of Raoh pummels the heck out of the offender. It appeared as if Usagi's shadow morphed into Raoh's and began beating up the Latino's shadow, which had affected the Latino himself. However, to everyone else, the man who offended Usagi's sensibilities was acting weird.

"No," Usagi says, as she turns back towards the entrance of the eatery…if one could call it that.

The Kid could only giggle in reply.

A few minutes later, three men dressed in bowling outfits (and carrying bowling bags) walk up the road towards the establishment while flipping coins in unison. The apparent leader of these 'Bowlers' were also on Buddy's trail, and was sporting a cue (single braid, bald head)…

The barkeeper sees Usagi and the Kid.

"We don't serve women and children," the barkeeper says.

Usagi takes a gold coin, and flips it into a nearby shot-glass. The barkeeper retrieves it, and examines it.

"Of course, we are flexible," says the barkeeper. "This way."

"See? No problem," Usagi says, as she sits down with the Kid.

The Kid scans the room and spots Buddy.

"Uhhh!" the Kid says to Usagi.

Usagi sees the Kid urging her to look at Buddy.

Usagi looks at Buddy, just in time to see the Bowlers making their demands.

"Mister Slick himself," says the leader. "The name's 'Strike', his name is 'Split', and my buddy over there is 'Spare'. We're the Bowlers, and we want you to come with us. Though, to be honest, we rather take your head."

Buddy nurses his broken class cup.  
"I don't know who sent you squares after to me, but I rather rock…not bowl."

Buddy gets up, and takes his weapon and his six-string guitar with him. Usagi sees this.

"Barkeeper?" Usagi says, as she gets up. "We'll take that food to go, instead."

Outside, the Bowlers take out their "flail" (also called a "morning star", which is a spiked metal ball connecting to a handle by chain) from their bowling bags.

"Now you are going to get it!" Strike says with glee.

Buddy takes out his sword, before stabbing the ground. He then casually walks around his opponents before he was attacked.

Usagi and the Kid step outside the establishment just as Buddy performed a spin kick that knocked his attacker onto the ground.

Groaning, Strike felt his ear being pulled by Buddy.

"Have a bit more class…DON'T BE SUCH A SQUARE."

Smack!

As Buddy returns to retrieve his sword, the Bowlers get up, and remove the tops of the pins to reveal daggers. Just as the Bowlers was about to knife Buddy in the back, and just as Buddy was about to respond by severing their heads-

POOM!

"Ahhhh!" the Bowlers yell, as a powerful force, well, bowls them over and across the road to the other side.

Buddy turns to the source of the disturbance. He sees Usagi retracting her fist.

"I'm not paying you 'Bowling for Dollars', you dig?" Usagi says.

"Humph," Buddy says, as he sheaths his sword. "I'm not exactly the non-violent type."

"Neither am I, but I don't want to be tagged, all right?"  
"You're the boss."

In the distance, a shadowy figure, flanked by three others sees this.

"THE BOWLERS HAVE FAILED," the figure says. "AND IT LOOKS LIKE OUR BUDDY HAS A FRIEND…OR TWO."

"What should we do, boss?" asks one minion.

"WHAT WE'VE BEEN CREATED TO DO: DESTROY THE SIX-STRINGER. HE WILL BE THE KEY IN ELIMINATING THE ONE SIMPLY KNOWN AS 'JACK'."

**Tbc.**


	13. End of a Story, Act 2

**SMST: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: "SM", "R1/2", "ST" and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

**Special note: This story takes place on the alternate world designated as "Earth-17", otherwise known as "The Rifts".**

* * *

**Part 12: "End of a Story" (II).**

* * *

After an exchange of words between "Buddy" and "The-Man-With-No-Name", who reminded Usagi of that American actor from the so-called "Spaghetti Western" genre, he, "Jill" and "The Kid" were traveling the old "Route 66" westward…in the Man-With-No-Name's '57 Chevy convertible, without the approval of the owner.

"I got to hand it to you, Bunny," Buddy says, as he sat in the backseat with his feet on the door while plucking his guitar. "You have a mean poker-face."

"He insisted double-or-nothing," Usagi says, as she drove the vehicle. "And all I wanted was to pay for the fare."

"Uhhh!" the Kid mumbles, as he pulls on Usagi's arm. He was sitting in the front seat with Usagi.

Usagi turns to look at the Kid.

"What?"

"Uhhh!" the Kid says, as he offers some gumball drops.

Usagi smiles.

"Thank you," Usagi says, as she accepts the gum. She pops it into her mouth, and chews on it.

"So, I noticed your sword from earlier," says Buddy. "What's the story?"

"It…belongs to a friend of mine," Usagi says sadly. He sacrificed his freedom for mine, and now…I'm searching the world for him."

"Really?"

"Really."

Silence.

"Sounds like love to me."

"If willing to give one's life to another is love, then yes. But…if you're talking about a love between a man and woman, then no."

"So there isn't someone else?"

"Yes, and no."

"Curious, most curious. I would love to hear the details."

"And get into my business? Sorry, I paid for a guide, not a 'shrink'-

BANG!

"Oh, dear," Usagi says, as she stopped the car. "Sounds like engine trouble."

"Do tell," Buddy says, as he hops out of the car. "Do you think we need to ditch it?"

Usagi, already out of the car, pops the hood. Having lived as long as she has, Usagi knows a trick or two about car engines. Luckily, the situation was not as bleak.

"We'll need some water to cool it off," Usagi says, as she leans over…while Buddy watched from behind.

"I like the view," Buddy says with a smile.

"Ease off, Buddy," Usagi says, as she straightens. "The car isn't going anywhere."

"Uhhhh!" the Kid yells, as he points in the direction behind the car.

Buddy and Usagi look towards where the Kid was pointing.

"It looks like we have company," Usagi says, as she and her party see a truck loaded with trolls. These trolls were on the hunt for unsuspecting humans…

"Trolls," Buddy says, as he takes out his sword. "Ever since this world of ours went to heck, weird 'World of Warcraft' crap has been popping up all over the place."

"Huh, if you think that's weird, trying being in a place where dragons are the NORM," Usagi smirked. "And Buddy? Don't waste any time fighting trolls."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Shaking her head, Usagi got to work in producing water. Even though there was not a source of water in this part of the desert, there was water vapor in the air, which means that there could be water underground. So, with the help of her elemental magic, which she mastered under the watch of Gandalf the White, Usagi zeroed in on the point of the ground where she could tap for water.

"Uhhh?" the Kid asked.

"I just a second," Usagi says, as she extended her senses. She walked a bit to the beginnings of a small slope…

"Right, here," Usagi says, as she takes the magic sword of Samurai Jack…and plunged it ground.

THOK!

She then pulls the blade out, cause water to seep towards the surface.

"Uhhhh!" the Kid says happily.

"I know," Usagi says happily. She then hands the boy her water bottle.

"Quickly, use this, and help me pour water into the radiator."

"Uhh!" the Kid says enthusiastically.

And so while Buddy fought off the trolls, Usagi took care of the car…

A few minutes later, Usagi started the car up with the kid already in the car.

VROOM!

"Sounds like a dream, no?" Usagi says.

"Uhh!" The Kid nods approvingly.

Buddy drags himself back to the car, flips over to get inside, and then bangs the car.

"Drive," Buddy says tiredly.

"Right," Usagi says. Already, she began to see a swarm of vultures ahead. She did not like to see bodies, even if they are trolls, eaten like your usual carrion.

Usagi then sees flats up ahead; she also could see the gathering of rain clouds further on, on the other side of the mountains.

"If we're lucky, we might be able to find a lake or something," Usagi offered.

"Just drive," Buddy says.  
"Humph," Usagi says simply, as she puts the car in gear…

Hours later, they trio came upon a nearly endless sea.

"I wouldn't be surprise if the Hoover Dam caused all this to happen," Usagi says, as she looked around. She then crouched, and used her hand to "cup" water.

"What are you doing, bright eyes?"

"I'm determining if the water can support life," Usagi says. "If it can't, it means that there is too much alkaline and salt in the water to do so."

"Do tell, Professor…"

Ignoring the remark, Usagi concentrates on the task at hand.

"Yes…"

"What?"

"There is life here," Usagi says. "And more importantly…there is food in the water."

With that, Usagi began to strip down, wearing only her bikini top and trunks. Almost instinctively, Buddy tries to cover the Kid's eyes.

"Uhhh!" the Kid yelled, as he tried to catch a glimpse.

"It's not for you, kid," Buddy says.

"What's the big deal?" Usagi says with annoyance, as she takes out her hunting knife. "Unless you have a fish rod and bait, SOMEONE has to get the fish. And besides…I'm kind of filthy…and I don't want to get wet, either."

"At least one of is…" Buddy says with a nod and a wink.

With that, Usagi dives into the water.

"Uhhh!" the Kid says, as he points towards the water.

"Nah, it's okay, Kid," Buddy says, as he drops his gear. "Hey, help me look for some fire wood."

"Uh-huh!"

Later that night, over the cooking of a second helping of fresh fish, Buddy plays a melody with his instrument.

"That sounds nice," Usagi says, as she looks into the fire. "It almost sounds…Japanese."

"I suppose so," Buddy says, as he continues to pluck the strings. "I don't know why I like this beat…besides Rock-and-Roll, of course."

Usagi nods her head, as she glances over to where the Kid was now asleep.

"So innocent," Usagi says. "No kid has to live in this world…like this."

"Can't help when one is born," Buddy says. "But you do have a say with how one dies."

Silence.

"Buddy, I have a confession to make," Usagi says.

"And that is…?"

"There is someone that I do care about, and yet I feel that I would be betraying the person that I am intended for."

"Sounds like a personal problem."

"Ha, ha. I'm serious."

"About…who?"

"Well…there is this guy named 'Ranma Saotome', who is this hot-shot martial artist and all around jerk that I've…been with."

"As in the Biblical kind?"

"Yes."

"I see. Go on."

"And then there's this other guy named 'Mamoru Chiba', with whom I am suppose to have gotten married to. I'm mean, sure, it would unite our families, but I did like him."

"So what happened?"

"You're not going to believe me-"

"Believe what? After getting into fights with trolls, I'm willing to take a chance."

"Oh, okay. It's like this…"

Usagi explains how she and Ranma were originally from the early 21st century, long before the Rifts came, and how somehow, they have been traveling to different times and places. And this was over a course of thousands of years…

"So, what am I going to do? It's one thing to be recreational about relationships, but I'm…I'm starting to have feelings for Ranma. Am I wrong?"

"Hmmm…"

"Well?"

"I say that if you have been with someone, as well as living with that person, for more than seven years, you and this Ranma dude are common-law."

"Huh?"

"You two are 'married' for all practical purposes."

"Even if it's been on-and-off?"

"Even then. And the fact that you're worried about your status with this other guy is an indication that you know this already…and are not willing to admit this."

"I see…"

Buddy stops playing his instrument, and gets up.

"Nature is calling, but think about what I'm trying to tell you."

"Oh. So…how much do I owe ya for this…psychoanalysis?"

"You've paid in fish already," Buddy smirked.

And with that, he goes into the shadows.

As Usagi hears the gentle surf of the artificial lake, she looks up at the moonlit night sky.

"Ranma…"

**Tbc.**


	14. End of a Story, Act 3

**SMST: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: "R1/2", "SM", "SJ" and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 14: "End of a Story" (III)**

* * *

_To recap, ten years prior, Ranma Saotome, Usagi Tsukino, Hoshi Sato and T'Pol of the planet "Vulcan" found themselves on an alternate Earth known as "The Rifts". The Rifts was a huge nexus hub—with connecting points across time and space—thanks to that version of Earth collapsing into chaos, death and destruction. As a result, the world has become a mosaic of elements from not just various points in time, but also from various planets, realms and dimensions. Now, one could see dinosaurs side-by-side with aliens, Neanderthals side-by-side with "The Grays" (i.e. the aliens that made famous the notion of "alien abductions"), and even high-tech vistas side-by-side with faerie dwellings. And all this was caused by an entity named "Aku", who sought to take over the world by taking advantage of the chaos that has occurred. However, two people stood in his way. First went by the name 'Jack', while the second went by the name "Jill". Aku managed to "get" Jack, so now it was time to get Jill, hence the pursuit by one Aku's chief huntsman: Death…_

The samurai named "Buddy" had awoken early the next day, still full from the bountiful amounts of fish that his client had managed to catch.

"Bunny-girl?" Buddy says, as he looks around. His scan manages to catch a glimpse of the Kid, who was still sleeping on the bedroll that was acquired the previous day.

"Huh," Buddy says, as he gets up. He decided that now was the best time to get some calisthenics in, since Buddy knew that the rest of the trek into the Kingdom of Lost Vegas would be harsh…to put it lightly.

A few moments later, Buddy found himself climbing up a medium-high hill that overlooked the lake below. However, just as he climbed through the brush, the sight of a clothe-less Usagi took Buddy aback a bit.

"Hmmm," Buddy mused, as he sees Usagi performing a rather complex martial arts kata. He was amazed that Usagi, being as muscular—though not overly so—as she was, could move so gracefully…

"Huh," Buddy says. "I didn't know the Bunny had tattoos. Cute."

And soon, Usagi was done.

Buddy's client then steps unto the ledge, and-

SPLASH!

Usagi had dived into the deep part of the stream that ran from the lake and merges with the Colorado River.

"Humph," Buddy smirks with a smile.

Later, Buddy finds himself walking back to the came, and came upon the smell of cooking fish. As he got closer to his camp, he sees the Kid eating his fish, while Usagi was preparing fish for the continued trip.

"Good morning, Mister Buddy," Usagi says, as she reaches over to a silver pan. "Hungry?"

"Eh," Buddy says, trying to play it cool.

"Humph," Usagi says, as she scoops up some fish stew with a, and pour the contents in a metal bowl.

"Thanks," Buddy says, as he accepted the meal. "Why soup?"

"We're going to need the water for other things, once we hit the road."

"Smart."

The Kid looks up at the adults between sips…

"Oh, and Buddy?"

"Yeah?"

"The next time you peep at me unannounced, I'm going to kick you in the groin. Got?"

Buddy bared his teeth before taking a sip of his fish stew.

Usagi merely giggled. She didn't really mind being nude, even amongst strangers, but there was something creepy about guys peeping on her without her permission…

After traveling for much of the day, Usagi stops the car in front of an old house. It was across the street from a field of windmills, all arranged like rotating tombstones.

"Why are we stopping, Bunny-girl?" Buddy asked, as he hops out of the car.

"I…sense people here," Usagi says, as she puts the car in "park".

"I believe there is medicine for that," Buddy smirked. And then-

"FOUR!"

Whack!

Buddy catches a flying golf ball in his hand, before it flew into his face.

"Apparently, you're right," Buddy says. "But so what?"

Usagi turns to look at her guide.

"Look, I have a thing about helping people in need…okay?"

"Huh, then I should get some sort of cut on the action."

"It's volunteer."

Buddy adjusts his glasses.

"This 'kid' doesn't volunteer."

Usagi smiles.

"You're right…THAT kid volunteers," Usagi says, as she points to the Kid.

"Huh?" the Kid responds.

"Welcome, one and all!" says a dirty man dressed in a suit and tie. He carried a golf club in one hand, and a pipe in the other. "Hey, Harriet!"

A dirty woman who was dressed as a 1950s-style "housewife" exist the house.

"What is it, Ozzie?"

"We have company!"

"Company?"

The woman turns her head in the direction of the house.

"Rusty!" the woman shouted. "Mary! We have company!"

"Huh," Usagi mused. "What a coincidence."

"What is?" Buddy asked.

"The names…"

"What about them?"

"They…just sound familiar, that's all."

"…"

A boy dressed in cowboy gear and a girl dressed in a skirted dress with pigtails exits the house.

"Ooh!" the boy says. "Food!"

WHACK!

The girl elbows the boy.

"Oh, I mean, company!"

This was not lost on Usagi or anyone else for that matter.

"…"

However, Usagi packing supplies earlier made a difference in the dispositions of the Cleavers, who were considering eating their guests.

"Oh, you have NO idea how crazy it is out here," Bill says, as he belched.

"How so?" Buddy asked.

"This area is 'Windmill People' territory," Harriet says as she relaxed.

"'Windmill People'?" Usagi asked.

"Yes," June says. "They say that the scientists and engineers of the '51st Area' had survived the end of the world, and went crazy. In fact, they think that THIS big, blue marble of ours is NOT real…and therefore must be cleansed."

"Ah, tilting windmills," Usagi says, realizing why anyone would be a part of the "Windmill People"…

"But we thank you for this food you provided us," June says. "The Windmill People had cut us off from getting out of here, so…we've been starving ever since."

"Then you can return the favor by taking the Kid," Buddy says with the smirk.

"Or not," Usagi says, as she looks at Buddy with a glare. "Honestly, why are you dead set on not having the Kid with us?"

"I just don't like kids, that's all."

"But they are SUCH a joy," Harriet says, as she hugged her children."

"Riiight."

"Well, we're trying to get to Lost Vegas," Usagi says.

"Can't help ya there," Ozzie says. "You'd be going in the wrong direction."

Usagi sharply looks at Buddy.

"But road forks about twenty miles ahead."

"True, except that the road heading north is blocked."

"You'll have to take the dirt road through the fields of windmills to get around that blockage."

"Which means that our car is useless," Usagi says.

"Of course…we can make a trade."

Buddy suddenly gets up from his seat.

"We don't trade with anyone-" Buddy began.

"Wait, I want to hear this out," Usagi says.

"I hate it when you do stuff like this," Buddy says.

A short time later…

"Buh-bye, Buddy!" Ozzie says, as he waves from within the car formerly belonging to Usagi and her companions.

"Buh-bye!" Harriet says. "Thanks for the car!"

"When you get to California, look us up!" Ozzie says, as he and his family leaves the scene.

Buddy smirked, as he turns his attention back to Usagi, who was examining a motorcycle with a sidecar attachment.

"What's the verdict, bright-eyes?"

"The verdict is that we are dealing with a piece of junk."

"So, you traded our only vehicle…for magic beans?"

"Ah, you said the magic word," Usagi says, as she takes out a bag. She the opens it up, pulls out a tool kit. "Time to make things beans grow…"

Meanwhile, the Kid was playing with a stuffed "ocelot" (a small cat that is in the leopard family), when he sees a man in a space suit, and he was about to bring down a scythe on the boy's head.

"Hhhh!" the boy yelled.

SWING-!

WHACK!

The boy managed to roll out of the way. He quickly scrambled to his feet, and runs to where the others are. Soon, he gets to where Buddy and Usagi are trying to fix their bikes.

"Hhhh!" the boy yells, as he tugs on Buddy's coat.

"Not know Kid," Buddy says dismissively. "We're trying to get our ride up and running…"

"Hhhh!" the boy yells again, as he tugs at Usagi.

"Just a second," Usagi says, as she turns a screw. "I'll be with you in a minute…"

As the Kid turns around, he sees that strangers in spacesuits were on the verge of surrounding the trio…

**Tbc.**


	15. End of a Story, Act 4

**SMST: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: R1/2, SM and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 15**

* * *

When the world died at the start of the Rifts, pockets of modern civilization survived. When the monsters and other predatory species from above and "below" arrived, one in ten communities went unscathed. Those that survived either evolved into secret super societies that were cut off from the rest of the world, or devolved into medieval throwbacks…or even further. It wouldn't be until the 23rd century on that world that human society would begin to form great nations, like the Coalition States of America and the New German Republic (to name a few), that could credibly compete with alien and supernatural civilizations. Still, there were other communities that dotted the landscape of Rifts Earth, such as the one our weary travelers were about to face…

CLANG!

At the last minute, Buddy took out his blade and blocked a blow meant for Usagi.

Usagi turns around to look at Buddy.

"Got to protect the client, dig?" Buddy says with a smirk.

"I'm touched," Usagi quipped.

She then rose to her feet and scans the approaching people. All of them carried scythes, and wore spacesuits.

"These must be the 'Windmill People'," Usagi says, as she looked about.

"Hhhh!" the Kid grunts, as he grabbed on Usagi's sleeves.  
"Your call, 'Nightingale'," Buddy says, as he pushed Usagi's would-be attacker backwards.

"As I've been telling you all this time-" Usagi began.

"Yeah, yeah…no killing," Buddy says, as he flips the blade of his sword, so that blunt part of the weapon be used for defensive purposes only. "You KNOW how I hate fighting underhanded."

"Then consider using the using the blunt edge as a form of practice," Usagi says, as she pulls the Kid behind her.

"Humph," Buddy replied, before turning his full attention towards the Windmill People. "Okay, spacemen…let's rock and roll…"

And thus, the attack began.

"Hhhh!" grunts one of the spacemen, as he lunges forward with his scythe. Due to the spacesuits, the strike was a bit awkward.

"Heh," Buddy says, as he sidestepped the attack, enabling him a freehand. Or, in this case, this enabled Buddy to deliver a free knee-strike to the helmet.

CRACK!

The spaceman fell over to the ground.

Buddy then glances at the other spacemen, who also raised their scythes…ready to attack.

"Who's next?" Buddy says, as he pushes his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

Meanwhile, Usagi looks at the spaceman, who was on the ground. From his jerking movements, the person appeared to be in pain.

"Stop!" Usagi yelled, as she raises her hands.

Buddy glances back, while fighting off his attackers.

"What's the score, Bunny?" Buddy says, as he nearly performed a windmill kick into three of his attackers.

Usagi looks down into the cracked helmet to see a pale man gasping for air. She then turns to the Kid.

"Kid, get my bag," Usagi says. "Hurry!"

"Hhh!" the Kid says, as he ran to get her bag that was five feet away from them. He comes back with it.

"Thanks," Usagi says, as she accepts the bag. She rummages through it until she brings out a role of silver duct tape.

POW!

Another spaceman falls, as Buddy glances towards Usagi's direction.

"Duct tape?"

"Sometimes, you need something fast to stop the bleeding," Usagi says, as she takes a long piece of tape from the roll and quickly patches up the crack in the helmet. The fallen spaceman calms down a bit…

"Stand back," Usagi says, as she and the Kid steps back.

The spaceman that Usagi helped slowly gets up.

"S-Stop!" the spaceman says to his companions. His voice sounded as if he was speaking through a voice box modulator.

As if on command, his companions cease their attack. Buddy, for his part, calms down.

"What's next?" Buddy asked. "A new dance card for the picture show?"

"Hopefully, no," Usagi says, as she scans the people. She then focused her thoughts on the spaceman that she had just helped.

"We mean you no harm to you," Usagi says. "All we want to do is be on our way."

The lead spaceman looks at Usagi, then at his companions, and then back at Usagi.

"You are not like these…humans," the spaceman says. "Since the fall of humankind, we thought to weed out the barbarians from amongst the potential ones."

"Extreme gardening…interesting," Buddy quips.

"You can't go around attacking people," Usagi says. "Sure, it's hell out here, but you can't force the restoration of Earth. All you've become are the same ones you are trying to destroy."

The spaceman turns back to his companions. There was a feint sound of electronic chatter between them…

"What now?" Buddy asked.

Before Usagi could answer, the lead spaceman turns his full attention back at her.

"We will need to deliberate your point in debate, enlightened one," the spaceman says. He then takes something out of his utility pocket.

"For now, take this."

The spaceman hands Usagi a pair of silver United States Air Force "astronaut wings".

"Huh?" Usagi responded.

"These wings will grant you safe passage through our lands," the spaceman says. "The next time you are in the area, please visit us. We would like to commune with you."

"Thank you, I guess."

"Farewell…"

A sudden dustup blows through the area. When the dust clears, the spacemen were gone.

"Where…where did they go?" Usagi says.

"I don't know, but they were certainly weird," Buddy says, as he goes back to the broken-down bike. "We better make tracks…"

After about a half a day's travel through the back roads, the trio came upon yet another town. Well, it was more like a village.

"We're here," Buddy says, as he stops his motorcycle.

Usagi and the Kid get out of the motorcycle carriage that was attached to the motorcycle.

"Hhhh!" the Kid says to Usagi, as he rubs his stomach.

"You're not the only one," Usagi says.

Buddy looks at this, and then glances at a small man, who was sitting at the side of the road while sitting with a group of men. Apparently, they were the town's "security"…such as it is.

"Hey, little-man…what's the score?"

"Here?" the man says. "Fine wine, food and women is where it's at."

Usagi rolled her eyes. It wasn't uncommon for prostitution to be a form of trade anywhere, particularly in desolate communities…

"Killer," Buddy says. He then turns to Usagi.

"Wait here while I get replenished."

"Which shouldn't take more than five minutes," Usagi smirked.

"Don't hate the player…hate the GAME."

"Whatever. While you have your fun, I'm going to get supplies."

"You do that."

And with that, Buddy leaves Usagi and the kid to their own devices.

"Men," Usagi says, as she smirks. She then turns to the Kid.

"Well, Kid, let's go get those supplies."

"Hhh!" the Kid says, as he nods enthusiastically.

"Good."

With that, Usagi locks the bike with a kryptonite lock on the wheel, and takes her leave.

"Hey, bright eyes," the little man says. "You don't trust me?"

"Not as far as I can throw you."

"Ah, then you DO trust me…to a certain extent, of course."

"Humph."

After Usagi and the Kid leave the scene, a shadow seemingly crosses the land.

"He's here," says the top-hat wearing shadow figure named "Death", as he and his crew heads over to where Buddy was holed up.

"As is the Bunny and the Kid…"

"What shall we do, boss?" says one of the dark walkers.

"We get Buddy and the Bunny. When that happens, the Kid will be defenseless."

"Right, boss," say the dark walkers in unison, as they head for the bar and brothel…

Thirty minutes later, Usagi and the Kid are back with supplies.

"There," Usagi says, as she places the bags into the secured compartment of the motorcycle carriage. "We should be all set."

"Hhh!" the Kid says with enthusiasm.

Just then, Buddy exits the bar and brothel, and he did not appear TOO happy about it.

"What's happened?" Usagi says.

"Nothing but hollow dreams and tears," Buddy says.

"So, you failed to perform for your girlfriends, huh?"

"Don't…don't go there," Buddy says. "I'm NOT in the mood."

And with that, Buddy popped the clutch, and started the engines.

Just then, a young man in a zoot suit bursts out of the establishment.

"Hey, FOUR EYES!" yelled the young man, as he strums his small guitar.

Usagi sees the young man. She then turns her attention towards Buddy.

"He's yours?"

"Little nuisance, I'm afraid."

"I have NO family!" the young man continues. "This is all that I got! You have to fight me, so I can be the King!"

Buddy looks at the young man, but says nothing.

"Fight me!"

"No."

"You're a coward."

"Whatever. I have a client and a mission to take care of, not take on a fool's errand."

"Then I'll MAKE you!"

And with that, the young rocker takes his Arabian sword, and charges at Buddy and his traveling companions.

"Ahhhhhhh-!"

At the last minute, Usagi palmed the air, creating a concussive force that knocks the young rocker backwards, and back into the inn.

BAM!

"Nice," Buddy says.

"Well, he was annoying," Usagi says. "Let's go…"

And with that, the trio takes off.

A few minutes later, the young rocker slowly gets up.

"Where…did they go?" the young rocker says.

"That is the least of your worries, rocker," says an eerie voice.

The young rocker turns to see Death and his gang.

"D-Death!" says the young rocker, as he gets his sword.

The top hat-wearing rocker merely smirks, as he draws his sword. Amongst the American samurai known as "rockers"—due to their love of classic rock-and-roll music—had reputations for being fierce, modern-day warriors. In a world where survival of the fittest was paramount, the rockers were the lords of the game. Since the death of the King of Rock, Elvis the First of Lost Vegas (and the first of the rockers), many of these warriors were vying for renown. The more renown a rocker has, the better chance one has of being the next king (or queen) of Lost Vegas. Buddy was a contender to the throne, but so was the rogue rocker known as Death. To that end Death was trailing close behind. However, even these two did not know the true scope of this rivalry, one that centers on the Kid…and on Usagi.

For now, Death was weeding out the competition.

"In the end, there can BE only ONE…"

"No-!"

SLICE!

Death picks up the young rockers guitar pick, and strings it with the other picks in his collection.

"Come one…we have a prey to eliminate."

And with that, Death and his gang continued the pursuit of Buddy, Usagi and the kid.

**Tbc.**


	16. End of a Story, Act 5

**SMST: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: The same.**

**Note: The usual.**

* * *

**Part 16**

* * *

For hours, the hapless trio rode on their motorcycle (with side car), until-

BAM!

Buddy expertly steered the motorcycle, so that it would not flip over in the process.

SKREEE!

"Sounds like a blown tire," Usagi says, as she and the Kid hops out.

Buddy looks down at the front wheel…

"Yep, blown like bubblegum," says Buddy, as he straightens his body. He rolled his neck.

"And we just got this thing gassed up and everything…"

"Ehhh!" the Kid says, as he tugs Usagi's right sleeve.

Usagi looks at the kid.

"Don't worry, we'll make it."

"I would like to know HOW, Bunny," Buddy says.

"Well, let's see," Usagi says, as she takes out an old map of the area. She unfolds it, and flattens it on the sidecar's upper carriage.

"Now, we can continue on this road, where it loops towards Lost Vegas, or we can cut some time by going straight through the desert. We'll end up back on the road six hours earlier, than if we traveled along the road."

Buddy takes a look at the map…

"Nothing like traveling at a straight line. We got enough water?"

"If we conserve, yes."

"What do you think, kid?"

"Ehh!" the Kid replied.

"Then, let's take this show on the road. And Bunny?"

"Yes?"

"YOU get to carry the gear," Buddy says, as he tosses Usagi the extra pack.

"Gee, thanks," Usagi says. "And they say 'chivalry' is dead…"

And off the trio goes, as they head nothing single-file. With the dunes as they are, it was easy to get lost.

"Bunny?" Buddy asked.

Usagi looks back.

"Yeah?"

"I'm surprised that a female like you haven't complained about this…environment."

Usagi rolled her eyes, as she faces straight ahead.

"Just because I'm a 'girl', that doesn't mean I'm 'weak'. And for your information, I lived in a desert for years. So I know how to survive these…dunes."

"That's good to know."

Upon the setting of the Sun, the trio makes camp. Since there was not a fuel source nearby, Usagi elected to use the lamp as a light and heat source.

"That ought to do it," Usagi says, as she stands up. She then turns towards her companions…

"Huh," Usagi says, as she sees Buddy performing windmill 'katas', while the Kid attempted to emulate him. In some ways, Buddy reminded her of-

"Ranma," Usagi says with a sigh.

Although Buddy and Ranma come from different backgrounds, both had roguish quarks that made them interesting to her.

"I should have allowed Ranma to come with me," Usagi says, as she finds a place to "relieve" herself. "Otherwise, I might have already have found 'Jack'…and maybe a proper 'bedmate'."

Usagi stops to look at the rising of the full Moon.

"Huh. Some 'Princess' I'm turning out to be…"

The next day, as the Sun began to rise in the East, Usagi woke up with a stomachache. Unfortunately, an arrow that had pierced her stomach was causing the ache.

"Auggh!" Usagi screamed, as she doubled-over. This woke up Buddy and the Kid.

"Ehhhh!" the Kid yells.

Buddy immediately sits up. He sees the Kid, and he sees a wounded Usagi.

FFFT! FFT! FFT! FFFFT-!

Arrows began to rain down on the trio. One arrow almost got the Kid, but Usagi took the hit.

THOK!

"Ehhhh!" the Kid yells.

"Cease!" says a deep, dusky voice, as the arrows stops. Buddy gets on his feet, and goes over to Usagi and the Kid.

"Bunny, you okay?" Buddy asks, as he crouches near Usagi's side.  
"Over than two arrows stuck in my body…yeah," Usagi says, as she gritted her teeth.

"Ehhh!" the Kid says, as he points to four men.

Buddy turns to see the men approach. Three of them had arrows notched, while the fourth stood in the back.

"Problem, pal?"

"With you and every other Rocker," says the man in the back, as he carred a guitar in one hand, and a sword in the other. His voice seemed dark and foreboding…

"So, who are you?"

"I go by many names, but you can call me 'Death'," the fourth man says, as he slowly walks up to Buddy. "I'll let you live, if you give me the boy."

Buddy turns to look at the Kid. He then looks back at the top hat-wearing Rocker.

"And if I refuse…?"

"Then you and the female will die…and I get the boy anyway. The choice is yours."

Buddy looks up at the sky. He was just a wanderer who only wanted to be a musician and a swordsman. Helping people out…was only a side-benefit. But, after all that he has seen…how could he simply walk away?

"And I'll be taking your six-string instrument as well," Death says.

"Well, then," Buddy says, as he lifts his instrument in both hands. "I hope you know how to 'play'."

And with that, Buddy swung his "axe", and knocks Death's archers to the ground.

THWANG!

Meanwhile, Usagi sees this…

"Ehhhh!" the Kid says.

"It's…okay," Usagi says with reassurance. "Just…bare with me…"

Usagi grits her teeth, as she grabs the shaft of the arrow that was stuck in her stomach. And then, she begins to pull.

RUNCH!

"Augh!" Usagi cried. She tosses the arrow aside, before grabbing the other one…

RUNCH!

"COUGH! Augh!"

"Please…please be okay," the Kid says.

Usagi looks at the Kid.

"So you can talk, eh?"

"My mommy always told me to never talk to strangers."

"Huh, good advice…"

At this point, Buddy had handled himself adequately.

Usagi, while pressing against her wound, goes over to grab their gear with one hand.

"Kid, get lamp," Usagi says tiredly.

"Ehhh!" the Kid nods, as he retrieves the outdoor lamp.

Once Usagi was sure that their stuff was "packed", she turns towards Buddy.

"Buddy!" Usagi yells. "WE ARE LEAVING!"

"About time," Buddy says, as he turns and runs.

"GET THEM!" Death yells.

The trio ran a bit more, before Usagi's wounds had compromised her.

"Ohhhh…"

"Ehhh!" the Kid yells.

Buddy looks at his companions, and then at the area.

"Windmills, damn," Buddy says. "I hope there aren't any more crazy 'space cadets'…"

Still, at least they were out of the dunes

Buddy then turns around towards their pursuers.

"Kid, stay with the Bunny, and wait right here," Buddy says, before drawing his sword to confront the Death and his buddies.

"Please, don't die-" the Kid says, before he and Usagi were suddenly were entangles by tentacles.

"Awwww!" the Kid yells. "Spinach monster."

While dodging a slew of arrows, Buddy hears the Kid's screams.

"Oops, gotta run!" Buddy says, as he turns tail to follow the source of the latest trouble.

"Boss," says one of the archers. "We follow them?"

Death tilts his head.

"Only if they manage to escape their predicament. Come…we have more 'Rockers' to kill."

"But why kill the Rockers?"

"Why, to extend more control over the Old American Southwest…in the name of Aku, of course."

"Oh."

Meanwhile, Buddy hears the Kid's scream, as he ran through the field of windmills.

"Ehhhhhh-!"

Buddy turns just in time to see Usagi and the Kid being pulled through an exposed pipe.

"Crap," Buddy says, as he looks around to see if there was an easier way to get below…

Meanwhile, the Kid and Usagi are pulled through a series of pipes until they were pulled into some underground facility.

"Oof!" the Kid says, as he was let go. However, Usagi was strung up with her arms stretched out.

"Bunny!" the Kid says.

Usagi was still unconscious, as she hangs in midair.

The Kid was about to run to Usagi, when three cloaked men in gas masks appear in front of the Kid.

"Nice…another one," says the lead man.

"Ehhh!" the Kid replied, as he steps back.

"Welcome to Hell, little boy!" says another.

Meanwhile, Buddy managed to find the entrance to the underground dwelling. He lifts the manhole cover, and climbs down with his sword and his guitar.

"Damn, it's dark," says Buddy, as he makes his way down. Eventually, he finds himself on grated "gangplank" that seemed to connect through several cavernous halls.

"You'd think they'd come up with lighting down here," Buddy says, as he continues his walk. That ism until…

"You do not belong here," says yet another cloaked figure. "Leave."

Buddy says nothing.

"Then 'pay'," the man says, as he swung his scythe at Buddy.

Caught the scythe with his hands.

"Sorry," Buddy says. "The tour guide said that this ride was free."

And with that, Buddy performed a front kick that knocked the figure into his companions.

"Ooof!"

Buddy then removed his sword from the scabbard that was attached to the back of his guitar.

"Perhaps, a donation is in order," Buddy says, as he flicks his sword in the air. "Who wants to be the first to receive my generosity?"

Meanwhile, Usagi managed to regains consciousness. Unfortunately, it was when she felt hands roaming her body.

"Such tender flesh," says one of the cloaked figures. "She will make a fine meal."

Upon hearing this, Usagi screams.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Her captors desperately covered her ears.

"That confounding noise-!"

While she found the idea of being molested distasteful, Usagi preferred molestation than be eaten.

"I don't want to be food!" Usagi screamed. She then began to pull on the tentacles binding her.

"Errrgh!" Usagi grunted, as she pulled free from the Spinach Monster, ripping its limbs in the process.

RIIIIIP!

The plant-like monster screams, as it flays about.

"Get her!" yelled her captors.

Usagi felt her wounds. Being unconscious enabled her body to rapidly heal itself. Unfortunately, she was still a bit light-headed from the loss of blood. Still, her training under Master Raoh was more than enough to handle a few weirdos and their "weed".

Moving faster than a blink of an eye, Usagi hits each one of her captors. A moment later, each one of her captors explode in a mist of flesh and blood.

"Arrgh-!"

BLOOSH!

The Spinach Monster, now focused, grabs Usagi's legs, and pulls the Moon Princess into its gapping maw.

"Ah-!"

GULP!

A moment later, the Spinach Monster explodes from within.

"SKREE-!"

BLOOSH!

Usagi coughs, as she stumbles forward.

"I'll never live this one down," Usagi says, as she stumbles forward. "I got to find Buddy and the Kid-!"

**Tbc.**


	17. End of a Story, Final

**SMST P5: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

**

* * *

****Disclaimer: SM, R1/2, ST and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

**

* * *

****Part 17**

**

* * *

**Meanwhile…

Usagi went through a throng of underground people, called "The Morlocks", as she made her way to the center of the commotion…

"Hey!" Usagi yells. "Watch the hands!"

"Mmmph!" says the offender through his mask.

For the past fifteen minutes, Usagi was trying to find the Kid, having learned of his fate after beating up the servants of the "Spinach Monster". And supposedly, the Morlocks have a game that they like to play with their "guests", which involves them being a part of some 'fight club' contest.

Not that Usagi was going to stand by and let THAT happen…

GOOSH!

"Hey!" Usagi yells.

POW!

"Argh-!"

"Honestly, if I didn't like men so much, I'd be a hardcore lesbian or something…"

Meanwhile, the Kid finds himself in the middle of a small basement-like arena. He looks around wildly, trying to see where he could run off to-"

"Hey, Kid!" yells a voice.

The Kid looks to see an older kid. In fact, save for the arrow stuck in his back, he was the same kid he had seen earlier.

"Huh?" the Kid replied.

"Welcome to HELL!" the older kid says, as he hops off his stool.

"HUH?"

"Tag, you're IT!"

POW!

The kid hits the Kid in the head, knocking the Kid down onto the ground. Cheers roar from the shadowed audience.

"Are you just going to lie down on the job, jack?" the boy sneers.

"J-jack?" the Kid says.

"Yeah, I'm talking to YOU!"

TING!

The Kid felt a cold-shiver through his mind, as if his brain was trying to remember something…

"And get up and fight, if you have any honor!" the older boy says.

The Kid gets up, as the other kid begins circling around him. Closing his eyes, the Kid began to perform a windmill kata move, as he seen Buddy and Usagi has done before…

"What kind of fancy dance is that?"

The Kid ignores the kid, as he took his mind to another place…

"Tag, you're it AGAIN!" the other kid says, as he threw a punch.

However, in one smooth move, the Kid sidesteps the kid, cause the kid to take a "face plant".

BAM!

"Oof!"

'Nice windmill technique,' Buddy says, as he observes the Kid's actions from a floor grate. He has been trying his best not to alert the Morlocks of his presence…

One of the spectators comes out from within the crowd.

"You are worthy of being a sacrifice to our god of Spinach!" says one of the Morlocks, as another grabs the Kid from behind.

"Ehhhh!" the Kid sounds, as he struggles to escape. And then-

BAM!

Buddy pushes out the screen, and leaps into the air…and lands up top.

"Hello, boys," Buddy says. "You have something that belongs to me."

"Ehhh!" the Kid says happily.

"If I were you, I'd run," says one Morlok.

Buddy tilts his head slightly.

"If you were me, you'd be good looking."

"What?"

"There are more of us than there are of you, outsider!" says another Morlock. "There is only you and the Kid."

"I say, you missed a spot," Buddy says.

"WHAT spot?"

"ME," Usagi growls, as she lifts two of the Morlocks a foot off the ground from the back of their necks. "Let us go, and you all will not be harmed."

"Looks like the script has been flipped," Buddy says, as he takes out his comb to his hair once, before snapping his finger.

SNAP!

"What do you say, Big Daddy?"

"Perhaps…we can come to some sort of understanding?" says one of the Morlocks who was being picked up by the neck.

"Good boy."

Fifteen minutes later, Buddy, Usagi and the Kid were back on the road.

"At least they were nice enough to get us this two-seater with rickshaw attachment," Usagi says, as she and Buddy peddles their bike, with their gear and the Kid in the back. "And, we're only 18 miles from 'Lost Vegas'."

"Yeah, yeah," Buddy says, as he turns to look back at a sleeping Kid. "Personally, I prefer the bike with the motor attached to it-"

SKREE!

"Why are you stopping, Bunny?" Buddy asked.

Usagi points to a sign in the Russian language, which was posted over to where an old US Highway sign was standing. It wasn't uncommon for people or groups from different eras, places and dimensions to pop-up on "Rifts Earth", especially around areas that have access to a trans-dimensional point on a Ley Line "nexus".

"The Russkies are here," Buddy says. "Great."

"Why would they be here?" Usagi asked.

"Don't know, don't care. Let's just move on-"

"Hey, YOU!" yells a voice.

The duo looks up to see a mustached man wearing a Soviet-era Russian uniform.

"What?" Buddy yelled with annoyance. "We're just trying to get to Lost Vegas-"

"This is Soviet territory!" the Russian yells. "No papers, no passing! You will be stopped!"

"Oh, yeah? By who and what army?"

The Russian whistles. And then a company of soldiers with guns climbs over the ridge that was facing the road that Buddy and company was on.

"The Soviet Army, that's what!"

"Thanks a lot, Buddy," Usagi says with a smirk. She then puts on the clutch, and gets off the bike.

"What are you doing?" Buddy asked.

"I'm getting us out of a jam," Usagi says, as she brings out a large bottle of vodka. It was wrapped in a cushion in order to prevent breaking. "I prefer not to fight, you know."

"You have THAT because…?"

"For medicinal purposes, really," Usagi says. "You never know when you need to distill something."

"Yeah, sure…"

Usagi steps forth.

"Comrades! I bring a gift of friendship and understanding."

Usagi holds up the bottle of vodka.

"Oh?" says the Russian officer.

Thirties minutes later, there was merriment amongst the Russians.

"You bring up a good point, Comrade," the Russian says while polka music and dancing was happening around them.

"I should hope so, Colonel Ivanov," Usagi says. "This is a brand new world, and it will need guidance. You and your men can lend protection to the people in this area. In return, they will more likely to accept your way of thinking."

"Yes, yes, of course. The Soviets CAN be the protector of the people…"

Buddy, who was tuning his guitar, turns to the Kid, who was eating his beans.

"Remind me NOT to get into a boring, philosophical discussion," Buddy says.

"Ehhh!"

Soon, the trio found themselves on the outskirts of gleaming Lost Vegas. Unfortunately-

THWACK!

A slew of arrows stop the trio on their path.

"Huh?" the Kid says, as he and his friends look up.

Archers dressed in black and top hats were aiming at the trio.

"You have the Kid and the guitar," says one of the top hats. "We want them both."

"Hhh!" the Kid says.

"No one gets the Kid, and certainly not my guitar," Buddy says, as dismounts.

Usagi looks the archers with an intense gaze. She felt a dark aura emitting from these three…

With a shrug, Usagi punches the air.

WHOOM!

The force of Usagi's punch, thanks to her knowledge of the so-called "God Fist", takes out the ridge that the archers were standing on.

"Ah!" yells one of the archers, as he and his companions go tumbling down.

"Nice," Buddy says, as he steps to one of the archers. He then pulls him up by the collar.

"Tell me, who's your boss?"

"We…work for Death, and Death works for…AKU."

"AKU?" Usagi yells.

"'Aku'?" Buddy asked.

"Yes. He is waiting…above."

The archer points to what was left of the ridge.

"Great, I have an appointment…"

"Buddy, go and take the Kid to Lost Vegas," Usagi says. "Death may know what had happened to a friend of mine named 'Jack'."

When the Kid hears the name, he realizes that he…he knew 'Jack'…

"This Death guy was looking for the Kid, and wants my guitar-"

Buddy turns to look for the Kid, but he wasn't present.

"Where's the Kid?" Buddy asked.

"He was right here-" Usagi replied.

"But he's not, is he?"

"Don't yell at me, Buddy-"

"Heeheeheehee!" laughed the conscious archer. "It looks like the Kid wants to face Death…alone-!"

WHACK!

Buddy withdraws his punch.

"We better find the Kid, and fast!" Buddy says, as he starts climbing up.

"Wait up-!" Usagi cried out, still feeling the effects from excessive drinking…

The Kid stood on a grassy field facing Death. Like his archers, he wore long hair and a top hat. However, his face was obscured.

"I see you've come to sacrifice yourself for your friends," Death says.

"He won't have to," Buddy says, as he raises his guitar. "I will play you for his life."

"Buddy-" Usagi began.

Buddy turns to face Usagi.

"You paid me to protect you and the Kid, remember?" Buddy says. "Let me do my job, okay?"

Usagi looks at Buddy before nodding her head in reply.

Buddy smiles, and turns his attention back at Death.

"Well?"

"Agreed," Death says, as he pushes the Kid aside. He then gets his white Gibson guitar out.

"Let's play…"

Buddy and Death play their respective riffs. While Buddy played "classic rock", Death played "metal". However, not satisfied with playing on an equal billing, Death ceased his playing.

"ENOUGH!" Death says, as he tosses his instrument aside. He then takes out his sword from its sheath.

"The boy dies now!"

"No!" Buddy yelled as he tosses his guitar to the side while running, takes out his sword, and-

CLANG!  
"Huh?" Death says, as he noticed that his strike was blocked.

"No, no," Buddy says, as he pushes Death back.

And thus the fight was on.

Meanwhile, Usagi runs up the Kid.

"Kid, are you okay?" Usagi asked.

"Usagi, I know who I am now," the Kid says with a surprisingly lucid manner.

"Kid?"

Meanwhile, the duel between Buddy and Death was taking a nasty turn.

CLANG!

Death manages to disarm Buddy.

"Looks like I'm playing my last act," Buddy says.

"Indeed," Death sneered. "And with you gone, no one else will be the new King…of Lost Vegas!"

As Death brings down his sword…

"BUDDY!" Usagi says, as she tosses to him Jack's sword.

KTCH!

CLANG!

"Thanks," Buddy says, as he pushes Death off of him.

The battle continued, as each man tested each other's might. However, in the corner of Buddy's eye, he sees his own sword…

"You DIE!" Death says, as he takes a wide swing of his blade.

In a split second, Buddy rolls, picks up his sword with his free arm, and positions it so that Death would accidentally impale himself.

"Urk!" Death says, as he drops his arms and sword.

Then, with Jack's sword, Buddy decapitates Death.

CHOOM!

Death's body falls lifelessly, as Buddy falls limp.

"It's…finished," Buddy says.

However, Death's body began dissolve, releasing sparkles that floated towards the Kid…

"Kid?" Usagi says. And then-

FLASH!

Where the Kid once stood, stood the samurai known as "Jack".

"Jack…is that you?" Usagi says.

"Yes, it is," says Jack with a smile. "Death contained my true essence, thanks to Aku's machinations. And with Death's defeat, I was set free."

With that, Usagi goes to hug his long-lost friend.

"Huh," Buddy says, as he looks over towards Jack and Usagi. "At least I don't have to baby-sit anymore…"

A few days later…

"Thank you for coming to my show!" yells the new king of Lost Vegas, as he waves to crowd. "And give a big hand to my band mates, the Top Hats!"

Cleaned up, the archers that accompanied Death now worked for Buddy. However, they traded their metal gear for classic rock gear.

Sitting in the front row was Jack…and his Jill. Apparently, after much soul searching, the two decided to "hook up" the night of Buddy's victory over death, since Jack was restored to normal. What happens after that, no one knows.

"Jack, we should make a home here," Usagi says, as she clutched her new sword and guitar, once belonging to Death.

"Usagi, I still need to destroy Aku," Jack says. "Please understand this."

Usagi sighs. One of the reasons they didn't get married was because of Jack's desire to defeat Aku once and for all, as a means of returning home.

"Okay," Usagi says, as she squeezed her man's left hand.

"And I want to thank the Bowlers…"

"Hhhh!" says the leader of the Bowlers, as he and his crew threw bowling pins at the stage.

"The Cleavers…"

"Thanks for the FINE food, Buddy!" says the father, as he and his family chewed on their few like there wasn't a tomorrow.

"The Windmill People…"

Silent, the space-suited figures raise their hands.

"Our Russian protectors…"

"Hoooooo!" Colonial Ivanova called out enthusiastically, along with his men…who now had dates.

"But most of all, I want to thank Usagi and a former kid named Jack."

"Hey!" Usagi says enthusiastically.

"Greetings," Jack says, as he waves the crowd.

"And form my last set, I want Usagi to come up onto the stage. Come on, Jill!"

Usagi gets up, walks up to the stage.

"So, are you ready to do that bit we practiced earlier?"

"Sure thing, Jack," Usagi says, as she got her guitar ready.

"Then, let's hit!"

And thus the King and the Jill begin a duet of Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" on stage in Lost Vegas. For now, this was the end of one journey.

**Fin.

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****Next time: We fast forward in time, when the events of "Afro Samurai" take place. See you then!**


	18. Finale, Act 1

**SMST P5: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

**

* * *

****Disclaimer: SM, R1/2, ST and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

**

* * *

****Part 18**

**

* * *

**It was a year later when Usagi received a special summons…

"Teacher, teacher!" says a young child, as the little comes running up to her.

Usagi looks up from the art and crafts exercises she was conducting with the children. At the time, the woman known simply as "Samurai Jill" was a schoolteacher in Lost Vegas, having remained behind when her friend "Jack" decided that he couldn't rest until Aku was defeated. Usagi liked the stability of being "settled", so the two reluctantly broke up a few months after hooking up.

"Yes, Lisa?" Usagi says, as she wiped her hands of clay with her apron.

"A man gave me this to give to you, Teacher," Lisa says, as she hands Usagi a brown package.

Usagi accepts the package. Was it from Jack?

"Thank you," Usagi says, as she smiled.

Usagi then takes a good look at the package…

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Lisa asked.

"Lisa, don't be so noisy," says Usagi as she smiled at her student.

"Awww…"

Later, after the lunch break, Usagi goes to the principal's office.

"Seymour, do you have a minute?"

Principal Skinner looks up from working on a budget proposal.

"Ah, Usagi," Skinner says, as he sets down his pen. "What can I do for you?"

"I…I've come to tender my resignation, Seymour," Usagi says. "I…came across something that requires my attention."

"Really? I mean…I can give you leave-"

"No, this is something that I have to do, and it involves going to Japan."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. The children really like you."

"I like them as well. However…this is something that I need to do."

"Then, on behalf of the school, I thank you for your sevice."

"Thanks," Usagi says with a smile. "Oh, and keep an eye on one of the children; he's a bit of a trouble maker."

"Please," Skinner scoffs. "As if I can be unnerved by a child-"

Skinner and Usagi notice a child's attempt at "mooning" them on the principal's window.

"BART!"

Usagi merely stifles a giggle.

Later that night…

"Look, Bunny, I'll look after your place, but I want you to be careful," Buddy says, as he leans on a wall by the door. "This sounds something familiar…"

"Yeah, it's something that WE used to do…as the modern-day samurai," Usagi says, as she packs her things. "But the samurai in Japan are…old-school."

"Do tell. But what role are you going to play?"

Usagi stops for a moment, and sighs.

"There is a legend that states that when the Rifts came, it was because of Humankind's arrogance. And with these Rifts, came the chaos that consumed this world."

"Sounds…mythic," Buddy says. "All I know is that when I was a little kid, I was told by my parents that the world nearly blew up because of a war."

"That was what triggered the Rifts, apparently," Usagi says.

"So how does this relate to what's going on now?"

"During the chaos, God came down from Heaven to re-establish order. However, as a way of punishing humankind for its folly, He—or She, depending your preference—created a system where only the strongest may deem to rule the world. So, ten headbands were created, and were scattered, while one was left in the hands of the strongest being on Earth…at least that time."

Usagi opens up the small package that was delivered to her earlier.

"This…is headband 'Zero'," Usagi says, as she shows Buddy the box containing the headband. "And it was giving to my former master and teacher Raoh by God, along with the other headbands."

"Wait, I thought you said there were TEN headbands?" Buddy asked.

"I gave you the story of what everyone knows. What most people don't know that the eleventh headband had been made, but would only be known if all ten headbands were collected."

"Huh."

"In fact, it was Master Roah who scattered the other headbands, with the proclamation that only the strongest may be 'Number One', and become ruler of this world. Naturally, during the initial chaos that accompanied the Rifts, the facts lost. Not that it mattered, since people were trying to survive anyway."

Usagi pauses for a moment.

"The fact that someone sent me this headband means that someone has collected all ten headbands, and has issued a formal challenge to not just be ruler, but become God…of this world."

"So YOU are a god," Buddy says with a smirk.

"No, but Number One will have to fight the avatar of God in order to BE God. Originally, Number One was supposed to fight Roah. However, with his defeat at the hands of his brother, Ken, Ken became Number Zero.

"Like going to 'Level Eleven'."

"Pretty much."

Silence.

"Well, you shouldn't have to deal with this, then."

"No, but I do," Usagi says with a sigh. "For me to receive this means that Ken died, since it was Julia who sent me this headband."

"Bummer. Now what?"

"Now, it's time for me to complete the training to become the 65th successor to the Hokuto Shinken Art, before I face the latest Number One."

Silence.

"Well, I not sure what to say about that."

"Well, you CAN wish me best of luck, Buddy," Usagi says with a wiry smile.

"Luck."

Usagi shakes her head, as she slings her pack. She then turns to leave.

"Bunny?"

Usagi looks back.

"Yeah?"

"What if you fail?"

"Then there is another to take my place," Usagi says, thinking of what would happen, if Ranma caught word of her death. "Be seeing you."

Buddy smiles.

"Stay frosty, girl."

A few months later…

In an old dojo, in the hinterlands of Honshu, Japan, Usagi breaks her meditation. She steps outside, and takes a small walk to face the open seas and skies.

"I am ready to receive my initiation," Usagi says, as she develops a faraway look, as if she was looking at the face of the Creator. She raises her fist in the air.

"I'm ready to be the successor to the God Fist!"

Suddenly, the clouds turn thunderous.

"I am worthy. I trained under Raoh! I created my own style, the Little Dipper Technique. And Ken had named me his successor, should he fail to pass on the Art. I AM worthy of thy blessing!"

The skies crackled, before-

ZAAAAAAARRRRRK!

Usagi seemed to be frozen, as a bolt of lightning struck her chest, and seared her soul. And when the lightning bolt ceased its actions, the Moon Princess collapsed on her knees.

Breathing heavily, Usagi realized that the Heavens had engraved the symbol for the Moon on her chest. Though it was not huge, it was apparent.

"You have completed your training, my student," says a familiar voice.

Usagi groggily turn to see the shade of Raoh, the one who forced her to become his apprentice.

"Master Raoh?"

"You are now the successor to the God Fist," Roah says. "And with it, comes a new era. But above all else, do not disappoint me, for I rather have you die before you pass on a weaker Art to your successor."

"Master, why this mark?"

"This is the mark of your lineage. Besides being the mark of magic and mystery, it is that of the Hunter. You are more than ready to face Number One…"

"Thank you, Master," Usagi says, as she nods her head slightly.

Raoh nods his head, as he begins to fade. He then merged into Usagi, his apprentice collapsed into a state of unconsciousness.

At the same, Julia, her baby daughter Shinko and her young nephew Ryu come running up to the cliff where Usagi was lying down.

"Is she dead?" Ryu says, as Julia went to check on Usagi.

"That's a terrible thing to say," Julia admonishes. She then turns her focus on her old friend.

"Usagi?"

"Ohhhh…"

"Yep, she's not dead," Ryu says.

"RYU!"

For a long time, Ken, Julia, Ryu and little Shinko lived in the ancestry home of Ken's ancestors, where the God Fist has been taught. With Ken's death, Julia sent Ken's headband to the Old American West, since she knew that Usagi was living there, thanks to what was left of an international mail carrier service. She was hoping that Usagi knew of Ranma's whereabouts, so the God Fist could be passed on to Ryu, the son of Raoh. However, Usagi took it upon herself to prepare a textbook that could insure that Ryu knew both Ken and Raoh's Art, while she herself would train…

"Come on, Usagi," Julia says, as she helped her friend up. "Let's go…"

A few days later, Usagi says a prayer at the gravesite of Ken and Raoh, before turning to look at Julia and her family.

"This is for you, Ryu," Usagi says, as she gives the boy a textbook. "Study it well…or ELSE."

"Thanks," Ryu says with a bow.

Usagi then turns to Shinko.

"YOU stay out of trouble, twerp."

"Hee," the child giggled.

"Usagi, DO be careful," Julia says, as she hugs her friend.

"I'll do what I can, Julia."

And with that, Usagi turns to leave. In order to get to Mount Shin, she would have to travel to Hokkaido.

Before stepping onto the road, Usagi looks at her headband, which was tied around her right hand and wrist, like boxer's wrapping. The Kanji for Zero, as well as the symbol the of the Japanese flag, could be clearly shown on the back of her hand (called a "dorsum".

Usagi clenched her hand into a fist, as it seemed to crackle with energy…

"I'm ready."

And with that, Usagi moves on to her destiny of violence.

**Tbc.**


	19. Finale, Act 2

**SMST P5: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM, R1/2, ST and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 19**

* * *

Months later…

"Jill" walked the path that would lead her to the most northern part of Honshu. She wore an elegant kimono that was gray with a dull, reddish, flower pattern. She wore a tan, female rice paddy hat, carried a small pack (with a guitar, an umbrella and overcoat tucked or strapped in) that was slung around her shoulders (so the pack was placed in the small of her back, wore wooden sandals). While she walked, Jill played a long flute, as her long blond hair and the loose ends of her headband (still wrapped around her right hand and wrist like a boxer) fluttered in the breeze…

THAK!

Jill, not bothering to look up, stopped her walk; she also stopped playing her flute.

"Well, well, well," said a large man, as he placed the dull end of his pole arm. A few other men surrounded him, and were apparently his companions.

"It appears that we have a solo traveler…and a beautiful one at that…"

Jill glances back behind her. More men step on the pathway behind her…

"She looks a bit tall for a cutie-pie," said the first man's companion. "Are you sure she's a dame?"

"Well, boys," said the first man, as he twirls his weapon. "There is only one way to find out…"

Jill sighs, as she tucks her flute into her pack. She then puts it and her hat to the side, while katana, once belonging to Death itself, was positioned to her right side.

"Ah, look at that," said the first man. "A girlie samurai."

"Boss, let's not cut her up TOO much," said the second man. "If she ends up dead, I want to have something of her to play with."

Jill squints her eyes. She notices that someone was aiming a flintlock rifle at her, making Jill think that she was being covered…

"Take her down, boys!" said the leader of what appears to be a gang of bandits.

With that, the bandits charged forward.

"Yaaahhhhh!" roared the group, as they converged on Jill's position.

BLAM!

A flintlock round is charged, causing Jill to draw her sword at the last minute.

TING!

The ball bearing shatters. However, the fragments continued to move at the same rate and speed, as those same fragments hot their marks.

BAM!

"Ahhhhhhhh!" yelled a few of the men.

"You little bi-!" yelled another man, as he charged forward. At least, he tried to, until he realized that his head was falling from the rest of its body.

"SKREEEEEK-!"

Without moving from her spot, Jill destroyed her enemies in an efficient manner. She gave pause, other than to quickly reassess her situation.

BAMF!

"How…how can a girl be so powerful?" said the first bandit, as he slowly begins to lose consciousness from lost of blood. He then sees the monogram and kanji etched into the blade.

"D-Death…?"

BAM!

And with that, all was peaceful again.

"Humph," Jill said, as she flicked the blood cleanly from her blade. She then sheaths her katana.

CLICK.

As she picks up her pack, Jill notices the bodies strewn about. Not wanting see their bodies disrespected, she took the time to pile the bodies into one place. After take taking the time to take their picture with her camera, and take their valuables, Jill doused the pile with rice wine, and lit it.

FWOOSH!

As the bodies burned, Jill played a sad song of potential lost to a world filled with violence and pain. She made sure to have the faces of her opponents committed to memory, since, in the end, no one else will remember…

"Chibi?" said a cute, red-haired girl with heart-shaped "Odango" and blue eyes.

"Somebody has to," Jill says, as she puts her flute in her pack. "Just because I am a killer these days, I'm not going to give up my humanity in the process."

"Chibi-Chibi!"

"I know, and that's the saddest commentary of our world today…or this world," Jill said, as she ties her chinstrap. "Look at me. I'm supposed to be the 'soldier' of love and justice. Where is the love? WHERE is the justice? Feh. I haven't been 'Sailor Moon' in ages because of what has happened to me, and maybe I shouldn't while I am on this world…"

"Chibi," the little girl said sadly.

"I know. Pathetic, isn't it?"

With that, Jill continues her way towards the north, not realizing that her path was being watched…

TING-TING!

All eyes turns towards the elegant stranger, who seemed out of place in this land of violence.

"Huh?" said a big man said, as he and another man stopped fighting.

All eyes turned towards the samurai known simply as Jill, who seemingly glides towards the bar.

"Huh," said the attractive barkeeper, as she raises a single eyebrow. "It's very rare to see a female around here with YOUR reputation…"

Jill was one of the few female warriors who could survive on her own. Some wondered if she was a wandering goddess who came from the Heavens to bring order to chaos. Others wander if she was a demon, since to destroy those who are cruel towards their fellow humans. One thing is clear: in world where a single act threw the world in chaos, thus turning it into a mixture of ancient mysticism and future hyper-science, with demons, angels, gods and aliens thrown in the mix, Rifts Earth could use heroes regardless of background…

"Lemonade please," Jill said. "Ice-cold, if possible."

"Um, sure," the barkeeper said, as she proceeds to get Jill her drink…

All eyes continued to watch Jill, but a few were paying close attention to the headband that was wrapped around her right hand and wrist.

"Impossible," said one mercenary.

His companion turns towards him.

"What are you talking about?" asked the companion.

"Remember those stories, of how there are suppose to be ten headbands, and that the person who has the first headband is suppose to be the god of chaos, while the person who collects the second headband is always challenging the person who had the first headband?"

"Yeah, it's the 'Rule of Ten'," the man said. "The bands were suppose to have been created by the gods in order to give some order to this world. And that means that whoever is 'Number One' will tip the cosmic scales to either good or evil in a shower of blood…while being the ruler of the world, with the power akin to a god."

"Right…"

The first man turns towards Jill, who was getting her lemonade.

"Then what do you think of someone called 'Number Zero'?"

"'Number Zero'?" the companion said, as he turns to look at Jill. "If…if Number One has power akin to a god, then whoever possess the Number Zero band IS a god?"

"Or, in this case, a goddess," the first man said, as he continues to stare at Jill…

"Thanks," Jill said, as the barkeeper sets her drink down onto the counter. Just as she was about to reach for it-

WHAM!

The larger man from earlier smashes the glass with his massive fist.

"So, little girl," the man said. "What are you going to do about it?"

Now, Jill had two options before her. The first option was to break down the offender, which was easy for her to do. After all, she was a student, and weapon, of Raoh the Conqueror. However, she had filled her killing quota for the day, so Jill chose option number two…

Jill began to sniff. Then tears began to fall…

"Huh?" the burly man said, as he takes a step back.

"WAAAHHHHHHHH!" Jill balled. "All…all wanted was something to remind me of my life…before I lost my innocence! WAHHHHHHHHHHH-!"

Now, the burly man was indeed a cruel man, and a bully as well. However, for some reason, the crying of THIS particular female was getting to him.

"Okay, okay!" the man protested, as he fished for some coinage. "Let me buy you another one."

"Whoa," the barkeeper said in surprise. She knew from experience that the man was a complete cheapskate, and had NO respect for females.

"Here," the man said, as he throws some coinage onto the countertop.

TING-CLATTER!

"Sorry…about that," the man said, as he slowly backed away. "I admit it…I was being a bit of a jerk."

"Thank you, kind sir," Jill said, as she turns around to bow her head out respect.

"Yeah, well, whatever," the man said, as he walks away.

"Most impressive," the barkeeper said with a smile. "I've never known HIM to be differential to anyone."

"Perhaps this is naïve of me to think this, but I always hope that even in the worst of us, there is a spark of goodness in all of us."

"Huh," the barkeeper replied. "You might be right about that."

"About what?" Jill replied, as she takes out her fancy "Hello Kitty" straw to sip her, albeit unintentional, second drink.

"About you being naïve."

"Humph."

"But, a word of caution: if you are heading north, the territory between here and Hokkaido is dominated by 'Sailor Sisters'."

"Odd," Jill replied, as she sets her glass down. "I've never heard of them before."

"They took over after the demise of Empty Brothers years ago. They want to set up a matriarchal society, in preparation for the return of some sort of Moon Princess.

Now, that was interesting…

SSSSSSSSSS-sip!

"Thanks," Jill said, as she puts down a few coins, before putting down some more. "A round of beers, on the house."

"How generous of you," the barkeeper said.

"Sometimes, a little kindness goes a long way…"

Sometime later, Jill is walking along a road that had not been kept up since the fall of the modern civilization.

"Chibi-Chibi," said the cute, red-haired girl, as she skipped down the path on Jill's side.

"I know," Jill said. "It's strange that women are able to dominate these lands so thoroughly."

"Chibi?"

"Well, we'll find out, once we making landing on Hokkaido-"

Jill suddenly stops her movements.

"Chibi-Chibi!" the little girl said, as she tugs Jill's frock.

"I know," said Jill, as she prepares for combat by loosening her kimono, as well as to use both her sword and her nearly indestructible umbrella in combat.

And then, some sort of mist seemed to envelop the area.

"Chibi!"

Jill shushed the child, as she began to use her other senses…

'There,' Jill thought. 'I sense my opponent. My…goodness. The energy signature is so…powerful."

Being a student of Raoh and other martial arts masters from around the world and beyond, Jill was trained to detect the faintest energy signatures. However, what she felt was not hidden. In fact, the signature had just spiked-

KLANG!

Jill parries the attack, but was surprised by the reach of the weapon.

SLICE!

As she felt the cut to her side, Jill could see that the weapon that her opponent was using was some sort of glaive.

Quickly, Jill reassessed the situation, and leaps back a bit. Almost instantly, the mist that was fouling her sight was going away…

"Not bad, Samurai Jill," said the female warrior, who wore a rice-paddy with the Roman symbol for the god Saturn. Her outfit was a mix of a Sailor fuku and traditional Japanese garb for women. Her black locks of hair was long, as her hair fluttered from a localize breeze.

"But we have just begun.

"Oh, my goodness," Jill said in surprise. "You…YOU are-"

"Your opponent," the woman said, as she raised her weapon high in the air, and-

"Death Reborn Revolution!" Jill's opponent yelled, as she lowered her glaive by slamming it unto the ground.

THOOM!

Upon impact, Jill's opponent unleashed a powerful energy wave that knocks Jill off the side of the mountain.

"Ahhhhhhh…"

"No!" said a blond woman, who jumped down from higher elevation. She was also dressed in a Sailor fuku, which was fused with traditional, Japanese garb. The difference between the blond and the brunet, in guise, was that the blond wore a cloak.

The blond rushes to the side of the mountain, as she sees debris and dust below. Angrily, the blond turns towards the brunet.

"You weren't suppose to kill her, Hotaru," said the blond. "She's key to the resurrection of our Moon Princess."

"I'm…sorry, Minako," Hotaru said meekly. "I didn't mean to be so rough on her."

"Let's just hope 'Jill' is alive, so that our plan will move forward."

**Tbc. **


	20. Finale, Act 3

**SMST P5: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM, R1/2, ST and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 20**

* * *

As Jill losses consciousness, her mind seems to go back to an earlier time…

_Rain. She hated the rain._

_As Jill adjusted her cowboy (or "cowgirl") with one hand, while carrying her large umbrella, she could hear a commotion ahead…_

"_Hey, kid!" said a masked bandit, as he and his companions circled a young, Black kid at a nearby shrine. "You can't get away from us!"_

_The boy looks around, as he tries to secure the box that was strapped on his person._

"_Now," said another of the bandit's companion. "Be a good kid and hand over the Number Two band."_

_Growling, the boy drops the box, and begins to draw his sword…_

"_STOP RIGHT THERE!" yelled a voice from above._

_The boy looks up and sees a shrouded man, who reminded the boy of a traveling Shinto priest._

"_You draw you sword, and you're dead," the man warned._

_Hesitant, the boy allowed the man, who was perched on a tree, to extend his staff, knocking the wind out of the boy._

"_Oof!" the boy said, as he goes down unto his knees._

"_Well, that takes care of that," said the Shinto priest, as he removes the Number Two headband from the boy. "I tell ya, kids these days…no respect."_

"_Funny," Jill said, as she walks up. "I could say the same thing about adults…"_

"_Who-?" the men asked, as they all turn to face Jill._

"_A stranger who doesn't like to see adults picking on children," Jill said. "I believe you owe the boy an apology."_

"_Sure…after we help us to some nice fun!" the men said, as they attacked…_

_Now, normally, Jill likes to feign being disarmed and helpless, preferring to negotiate her way out of a fight, rather than actually fighting. Also, she didn't want her guns and ammo to get wet. However, since she was now being attacked, Jill felt that she had no choice but to fight, using the martial arts style known as "Gun Kata". However, her style came from Empress Tenshi's Senshi of Smiles School of the Juttensen. That means that Jill knew how to use both her femininity, combined with firearms, as a weapon, but must always seek a peaceful resolution to a problem._

_At least, this was the theory that the school espoused._

_In reality, the harshness that was Rifts Earth did not allow for such sentimentality, especially since sexual assault was a standard practice…_

_As the bandits came at Jill, Jill simultaneously flexed her biceps while removing her gun from its holster with her free hand._

_FLICK!_

_Bullets leaps out of her cleavage, while Jill flicks her gun open to receive the rounds of ammo, slot-by-slot…like the trained Grenadier she was._

_Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting-! _

_CLAK-CLAK!_

_Jill points her gun at her foe, intending to keep the bandits at bay._

"_Hold it-!"_

"_Yarrrgh-!"_

_BLAM! BLAM! BLAM-!_

_A moment later, rogue the Shinto priest runs away from the scene, being the only survivor of his band of bandits, while taking the Number Two headband with him._

"_Great, just great," said Jill with disappointment, as she looks at the prone bodies of her opponents. "I'll have to pay for someone to bury these bodies…"_

_Jill then looks down at the injured boy._

"_Poor thing," Jill said, as she knells over the boy, while still carrying her umbrella. She holsters her pistol._

"…_Must…keep…the Number Two…headband," the boy said, before collapsing completely under a state of unconsciousness._

_Jill raised an eyebrow, wondering what headband the boy was talking about-_

"_Hey!" said a voice._

_Jill turns to see a group of kids and a strangely familiar man walking towards her and the boy…_

"_Do you know what's going on?" said the oldest boy._

_Jill stood up._

"_This boy was attacked by bandits," Jill said. "He needs medical attention."_

_The man nods his head, as he turns towards the oldest boy._

"_Jinnosuke, you and the others take the boy back to our home," the man said. "I will discuss this matter with the woman."_

"_Yes, sensei!" said the kids, as they, save for a little girl, who was holding a teddy bear._

_The older man looks at Jill. He sensed a potential power from her, in spite of emphasizing her obvious femininity…_

"_We should talk," the man said with grim determination._

_Later, at a special training hall for orphans wanting to be samurai, while the injured boy was recovering, under the watch of a healer, the older man and Jill have a private conversation._

"_No, the one you seek has not been here in a year," the man said, as he sipped his tea._

"_Drat," Jill said, as she looked down at her tea. A vision had told her coming to this place would provide her with the clues to find her friend Jack, who happened to be a samurai. Ever since he left his sword in her care, after disappearing the way he did while battling the demon Aku, Jill has been relentless in trying to find her old friend…_

"_Then my search continues."_

_Jill takes one last sip of her tea, places a pouch of gold coins in front of the older man, and then gets up._

"_That will be for you to take care of the boy," Jill said, with a slight bow. "And thank you for your hospitality-"_

"_I noticed that you carry a katana, and yet you do not use it," the man said._

"_It doesn't belong to me, that's why," Jill said. "It belongs to my friend, Jack."_

"_Ah."_

_Jill turns away to leave…_

"_Wait," the man said, as he held his hand up._

"_Yes?" Jill said, as she faces the older man again. _

"_I will be frank with you, Miss Jill. The children need a mother, and I am looking for a wife. You, being experienced in the ways of this world could help bring this household to life."_

_Pause._

"_And I will teach you how to use that blade you carry on your back," the man said. "Never allow yourself to be limited to just one weapon."_

"_I'm…flattered, sir, but…my search for my friend must continue, and I don't know you well enough to do that."_

_Pause._

"_Good day, sir," Jill said, as she leaves the older man's study…_

_Six months later, Jill, still searching for the samurai known as Jack, returns from the north. She decided to take a break from her quest to enjoy the Autumn Festival, the time when the harvest is put to market._

"_Hey, baby-!" said a drunken reveler._

"_Not interested," Jill replied, as she finished her beer._

"_Ah, you don't mean that-"_

_WHAM!_

"_Yes, I do," said Jill, as she sets her beer mug down, after smashing the man's head onto the bar countertop._

_Now disgusted with the bar scene, Jill decides to turn in for the night._

_As she walks to her motel room, past the town's "red lantern district", Jill could hear the usual sounds of loving-making. Although she was disgusted by the thought of prostitution, Jill felt the tug of longing in her heart. But, she resigned herself to be alone, as she continues her search for her friend-_

_TING!_

"_Hmmm?" Jill said to herself. Something caught her eye, something that brought back an old memory to the forefront._

_So, Jill decides to investigate this memory of hers…_

_SPLURCH!_

"_Arrgh!" said a young man, as the boy known simply as "Afro" sticks his father's sword into the man's shoulder._

"_Tell me where I can find the Number Two headband!" Afro demanded._

"_You little punk bastard-!" the man said, just as he was about to pull out his gun, which was underneath a nearby pillow._

_Not wanting take nay chances, Afro went for the man's neck-_

_BLAM!_

_Ting-ting!_

_Using a trick shot maneuver, Jill shoots the sword out of Afro's hand, while the bullet then sails to knock the gun out of the man's hand._

"_Huh?" said everyone, including the geisha that was with man, before Afro barged in._

"_You," Jill said to the geisha. "Get out."_

_Frightened, the geisha does as she is told._

"_Who-?" Afro said, as Jill makes her move to apply a "Vulcan Nerve Pinch" on the boy._

_THOK!_

"_Ohhhhhh…"_

"_Now," Jill said, as she tosses the man a sack of gold coins. "That should take care of that wound, as well as compensate you for your troubles."_

"_No, it won't, until I kill that little bastard-!"_

_CLICK!_

_Jill places the gun directly at the man's head._

"_Then, again, I can manage."_

"_Good, you're thinking long term…"_

_Later, the kind man, the sensei who was looking after the orphans, sends Afro to his room, indicating to him that he will be punished in the morning._

"_Thank you, Miss Jill," the man said with a bow. "I am glad that you had found Afroru before he did…damage."_

"_It was nothing," Jill said with a pleasant smile. "I'll be going now-"_

"_Please stay for the night," the man said. "Then, you can leave in the morning."_

_Jill thought for a moment. It was late in the evening…_

"_I will accept your offer, sir," Jill said with a smile._

"_Please, call me 'Momaru'," the man said._

_Jill raises an eye upon hearing the kind man's name, but says nothing…_

"_Please…call me 'Usagi'," Jill replies._

_The kind man smiles upon hearing Jill's real name…_

_Although Jill had originally intended to leave the next day, her stay is extended by another day…and then another…and then another. Mamoru-sensei makes her comfortable, while he teaches his orphans how to be upstanding citizens, and samurai. Jill watches all this with a pleasant smile…_

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

_Jill lowers her gun, satisfied that she had made her marks._

"_You can do a lot more with a sword than with your gun," said a familiar voice._

_Jill turns around to see Mamoru-sensei standing there with a long stick._

"_Oh, it's you," Jill said, as she re-holstered her weapon. "I hope I wasn't disturbing you."_

"_Not at all," Mamoru-sensei said. "I was just about to go fishing."_

"_Oh, okay," said Usagi, as she goes over to her small encampment. "I'll just be over here…cleaning my gun…"_

_During the afternoon Jill watches Mamoru-sensei catch fish, by jabbing sharp sticks into the water while timing his action._

_THAK!_

"_There goes another," Mamoru-sensei said, as he puts another fish in basket. "That should be all for now…"_

"_Ooo!" Jill said. " Let me try!"_

"_You're sure now?" Mamoru-sensei asked._

"_Sure, I'm game," said Usagi, as she goes over to the water. "May I have your stick?"_

"_Here you go," Mamoru-sensei said, as he hands the sharp stick to Jill._

"_Thanks," Jill replied, as she accepts the stick. She then looks into the water, as she quietly wades through it, and-_

_THAK!_

"_Drat missed- ulps!"_

_Somehow, Jill slips on a rock that had algae on it._

_SPLASH!_

_Jill looks at a laughing Mamoru-sensei with mild annoyance, after she spits out the water from her mouth…_

"_Ah-choo!" Jill said, as she sneezed in front of the fireplace in the guest room, while her clothes were drying._

"_Well, I will leave you alone now," said Mamoru-sensei, as he leaves behind a tray of hot soup. "Feel free to call me if you need anything."_

"_Thanks," Jill sniffed._

_Mamoru-sensei smiled, as he turns to leave Jill's room…_

"_Wait," Jill said. "Do you want to…hang out for a while?"_

_Mamoru-sensei considers Jill's words, before closing the door behind him…_

**Tbc.**


	21. Finale, Act 4

**SMST P5: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM, R1/2, ST and other genres belong to their respective owners.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

* * *

**Part 21**

* * *

_The years come and go, and the "Crossroads Home and Training Hall" continues to take care of the children made orphans by a violent world…_

"_Mommy, Mommy!" said a little girl, with pink hair, as she runs into her mother's arms._

"_Hey, there, little one," Jill said gently, as she accepts her child Usako into her arms. "What's up?"_

"_Aforu won't teach me how to fish!" Usako said. "He and Jinnosuke are always practicing!"_

_Jill smiles pleasantly. She was glad to have left the way of warrior behind to help Mamoru-sensei, her companion of many years, help raise his orphans. Jill and Mamoru-sensei had both agreed to start a family of their own…_

"_Well, you have to understand that Aforu and Jinnosuke are becoming adults, dear," Jill said. "Soon, they will graduate and become full fledge samurai."_

"_Well…then I want to be samurai, too!"_

_Jill sighs. She didn't mind having Usako learn how to defend herself. In fact, she has been teaching her daughter and Otsuro how fight off bandits, but still…_

_Jill didn't want any of her children, adopted or otherwise, to lead a solitary life of a…ronin._

"_Dear, you should think about other things do when you grow up," Jill said gently._

"_But…you traveled and fought a lot, Mommy," Usako said._

"_Why do you think I stopped? I fought only to defend myself, and to search for a man who saved my life."_

"_Why…why did you stop?"_

"_Well," Jill said, as she sets the girl down. "I wanted to rest for a while. Someday, when you get old enough, I…I might resume searching for my friend."_

"_Are you…going to leave Daddy?" the girl asked fearfully._

"_No, dear. When you kids are old enough, your father and I will begin are journey…together."_

_Usako smiles._

_Later…_

_SLICE!_

_Jill breathes a sigh of relief as she followed through on her sword stroke with Jack's katana. The series of bamboo trees are sliced cleanly, as the tops of the fell. Since coming to this place, she made it an effort to learn the way of the sword, though she still continues to practice the use of her pistols. After all, one must never be dependent solely on one weapon…_

_Satisfied with her progress, Jill decides to take a path in the river, so that she could have time to prepare for dinner._

_SHHP!_

'_Ah,' Jill said inwardly, as she began to swim. Living in the wacky world that was Rifts World did not allow her the ability to have a normal life. Certainly, she missed certain modern conveniences, such as indoor plumbing. But, regardless of her condition, she was happy…_

_As she continues to swim, Jill got the sense of being watched. With her guard on, she gets out of the water to dry herself off-_

"_Hold it, sweet cheeks!" said a gruff voice._

_Jill sees a band of men stepping out of the forest, intercepting her path to both her weapons and clothes._

"_It looks like we caught ourselves a real live 'water nymph'," said the biggest of the three._

_Jill frowns. Lately, the amount of bandits that have appeared onto the scene have increased many fold, all because of someone who possess the Number Two headband…_

"_What do you want?" Jill said, as she used her hands to cover her modesty. "Get out of here!"_

"_Well, we're looking for someone possessing the Number Two headband," said the man. "But we don't mind ourselves a 'break today'."_

"_That's funny, boss!" said one of the other men._

"_I know, that's why I said it!"_

_The man then leers at her._

"_So, why not do this the easy way, and don't resist. We don't want to have to harm you…or WORSE."_

"_So, you'll be all gentle like?" Jill said, as she relaxed a bit. "Like perfect gentlemen?"_

"_Sure, why not?"_

"_I see. The answer is NO, since I like it all rough."_

"_Hey, even better! Boys…?"_

_The two men ran towards Jill, intending on knocking her down, and hold her so that they could have their way with her…_

"_Humph," Jill said, as she smiled with a smirk._

_Without seemingly moving from her spot, Jill delivered several blows within a blink of an eye to both men._

"_Oof!" the men said, as they fell on their backsides. The men then tried to get up, only to realize that with each blow struck, a bone was broken._

"_Arrrgh!" yelled one man, as he withered in pain._

"_Boss-?" said the other man._

"_No broad is going to show ME up!" said the lead man, as he brought out his spear. He threw it directly at Jill._

_SWISH!_

_Jill stares at it, as it was about to hit its mark: Jill's chest. However, Jill used inhuman speed to palm the blade's flat side, shattering it instantly, before catching the staff portion._

"_What?" the man said with disbelief. "How-?"_

_Jill expertly twirls the staff around before stabbing it into the ground._

"_An old friend of mine taught me to never depend on a weapon," Jill said. "Instead, you must become the weapon, otherwise, you will LOSE."_

"_Then, let me make it up to you!" the man said, as he pulls out a long knife, as runs at Jill._

_As Jill's eyes seemingly sparkle, she palmed the air in the man's direction, and-_

_WHOOM!_

_Jill seemingly emitted a large sphere of energy that slammed into the man hard._

_BAM!_

"_Arrrgh!" the man said, as he was slammed into a row of bamboo trees, before collapsing onto the ground…at least one hundred yards away._

_The other men tried to scoot back, as Jill went to reclaim her clothes._

"_You two and your friend will live," Jill said, as she puts her clothes on. She then turns to face the men._

"_If you or any of your kind step onto these lands again, you will know my wrath!" Jill said, as she points her sword towards the men. "Got it?"_

_The men nod sheepishly._

"_Good," Jill replied with a pleasant smile. "Have a nice day…"_

_As Jill walked back towards her home of many years, she thought that it would be difficult to leave this place. Unfortunately, in the near future, she might not have a choice in the matter… _

_It would be the night after the Autumn Festival, when things would change forever. Mamoru-sensei had presided over the graduation of his oldest, and most capable students, all of who would be trained to protect the people. Jill was present to witness Mamoru-sensei pass out newly minted katana(s), as the equivalent of handing out diplomas._

"…_Sasuke," Mamoru-sensei said, as he passed a sword to the student who was a bit or a brain._

"_Thank you, Master," Sasuke said, as he accepts the sword as he bows. He then returns to his seat._

"_Jinnosuke," Mamoru-sensei says, as he hands a pair of swords to Jinnosuke, who mastered the art of paired weapons._

"_Thank you, Master," Jinnosuke said, as he bows and accept his swords._

_Mamoru-sensei turns towards Aforu._

"_Aforuji," Mamoru-sensei said, as he hands Aforu his father's sword, which was kept in good condition until Aforuji was ready to be a true samurai._

"_Thank you, Master," Aforu said, as he bows his head, while accepting his father's sword. He then takes his seat._

_Mamoru-sensei rose to his feet._

"_On this day, we commemorate your graduation," Mamoru-sensei said. "You are now great warriors. Use wisely, the sword skills you have acquired."_

_All was silent, when Aforu spoke up._

"_Master?" Aforu said._

"_Yes, Afuru?" Mamoru-sensei asked._

_Afuru swallows before proceeding with his inquiry._

"_There is something that I would like to know…"_

"_Afro?" Jinnosuke said aloud._

"_Are you…really 'Number Two'?"_

"_Afro!" Jinnosuke said quietly, yet forcefully._

_Jill closes her eyes, and lowers her head. She knew that Mamoru-sensei was the Number Two, the man who was destined to fight the one whose power was like a god's, for some time now, but chose not the broach the subject…for the sake of peace._

_All was silent for a long time. And then-_

"_After midnight, under the Bodhi Tree," Mamoru-sensei said. "We can speak about the matter then."_

_With that, the ceremonies were done._

"_Mamoru, you should have given up the headband," Jill said, as she watched her "common law husband" prepare himself for battle._

"_The boy has the right to know the truth of the Number Two headband," Mamoru-sensei said. "And if our talk leads to violence, then so be it."_

"_But all this…needless death is stupid. And besides, the headbands are just a myth to drive men to violence."_

"_Really? Then why do YOU have a headband?"_

"_Huh?"_

_Mamoru-sensei turns towards Jill._

"_It was smart of you to use your Number Zero headband as 'chest bindings', since no one would think to look…there," Mamoru-sensei said._

_Jill lowers her eyes before looking at her husband._

"_Then you know the truth, correct?"_

"_Yes. Raul the Conqueror, who became like that of a god, forged his essence into eleven headbands, each with the taint of violence that drives men to get stronger under conflict. He wanted a challenge to test his might, so he scattered the headbands across the four corners of the Earth, save one: Number Zero. That one he left for his sole apprentice, who would face the challenge brought on by the one who has the other ten headbands. Since Raul is not longer with us, it will be YOU will destroy the Number One, but only if he has the other headbands."_

_Pause._

"_And thus, the cycle of violence continues."_

"_Mamoru, I don't WANT that to happen!" Jill said. "Raul turned me into his living weapon, a weapon compelled to get stronger with each possession. I don't want to be forced to kill you or anyone I care about."_

"_But that is you way and purpose, as Raul's 'Nemesis', the slayer of those with great hubris and great presumption."_

_Mamoru then turns away._

"_Usagi?"_

"_Yes?" Jill said with a sniff, as she began to cry._

"_For what it is worth, I have, and always will, love you."_

_And, with that, Mamoru leaves their shared bedroom._

_For a long time, Jill wept, hating the fact that she could easily face her husband or Afroru in battle._

_Collecting herself, Jill decided to check on the children, only to find some of them missing, including her own child._

"_Oh, no…"_

_Quickly, she took a lantern, and rush out of the house._

_A short time later…_

"_Arrgh!" Mamoru-sensei cried out in pain, as he attempted to protect his daughter Usako._

"_Daddy-!" Usako said as her father tried to take the blade from that was meant for her, to no avail._

"_Ahhhhhh-"_

_Coming unto the scene, Jill sees a virtual melee, as bandits attacked her husband and children. No doubt her kids had heard about what was suppose to go down between Mamoru-sensei and Aforu. However, what was unexpected was the hordes of bandits who finally figured out that Mamoru, the local master Samurai, was the possessor of the Number Two headband._

_And then, Jill sees her daughter and husband getting stabbed right before her eyes…_

"_No," Jill said. "NOOOOO!"_

_FWOOSH!_

_Energies that were long dormant leapt forth, lighting up the night sky. All eyes turn towards Jill._

"_I warned you," Jill said, as her eyes glowed. "You chose not stay away. Therefore, I take your life."_

_With Jack's sword in hand, Jill struck the ground hard._

_THOOM!_

_A crevasse opened up, causing some of the combatants to fall in._

"_Arrrgh-!"_

_At inhuman speeds, Jill took down the rest the bandits._

_And then, it was quiet._

"_Mother-" Jinnosuke said, only to receive an angry glare from Jill._

"_You should have kept the others away from here," Jill said. "I'm very disappointed in you, Jinno."_

"_But…we wanted to stop-"_

"_Did you ever consider the fact that this was not your fight? And because you were careless, some of your siblings my be dead?"_

"_But…but…it's not my fault!"_

"_Tell that to your Master."_

"_It's NOT MY FAULT-!"_

_And, with that Jinnosuke runs into the night._

"_Jinno!" Afroru said, as he reaches for his best friend._

_Meanwhile, Jill goes to the bodies of Mamoru-sensei and her daughter. She sees the Number Two headband. She picks it up._

"_Afro," Jill said._

_Afro turns towards Jill. He clutched his sword, upon seeing her with the Number Two…_

"_The Number Two headband is yours," Jill said, as she holds it towards Afro, who took it hesitantly. He finally has it, so now he could avenge his father…_

"_Know this: while I know that your obsession to acquire the Number Two headband is NOT your fault, I will never forgive you for causing this chaos."_

"_I understand," Afro said, as he ties the headband around his head. He then bows his head out of respect, before turning to walk away._

_With that, Jill begins to mourn in earnest…_

_In the years since that day, Jill kept watch over the children the best way she could, teaching them what they needed to know to survive in a cruel world. When the last of the children were old enough, she sold the land to the local town, with the promise that the training hall would be looked after while she is gone._

"_I'm sorry that I didn't make sure that you grew up to be a fine young woman," Jill said, as she sets down flowers upon the graves of her husband and child. "I'm sorry I never got the chance to tell you stories of what the world was once like, when I was your age…"_

_Jill then turns towards where her husband lay._

"_Good-bye, my darling. I hope that you will have the peace that you were denied in life."_

"_Chibi-Chibi?" said a red-haired child._

"_Yeah, we can go now…"_

_With that, Jill, with the red-haired child in tow, puts back on her cowboy hat, but this time, she had the Number Zero headband wrapped around the base of the crown. She was not going to hide her destiny any longer…_

_With that, Jill, with Jack's sword on her back, and her gun on her side, Jill continues her search for the samurai named Jack…_

* * *

Jill slowly wakes up from her unconscious state, and sees a young woman, with pink hair, looking down at her.

"Hello, Mother," the young woman said pleasantly. "Welcome to my home."

"?"


	22. Finale, Act 5

**SMST 4: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

**

* * *

**

**Disclaimer: R1/2, SM, ST and other properties belong their respective properties.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

**

* * *

**

**Part 22: "Finale, Act 5"**

**

* * *

**

For the next few days, the samurai warrior named "Jill" recuperated from her ordeal. She was contemplating on what she should do next, since she had an appointment with destiny…

"You have recovered," said a voice from behind.

Jill simply looks at the girl who bore her face, as she brought in a tray filled with tea and a bowl of miso soup. Japan on Rifts Earth was a mixture of ancient feudalism in the north, and high-tech futurism in the south. However, it is not usual to find electronic devices here in the north of the country…

"I also want to apologize for what happened earlier," the girl said, as she sets the plate down in front of her guest. She then scoots back up and prostrates herself in front of Jill.

"Sisters and I thought that you may have been a pretender," the girl said. "We only wanted the one true Moon Princess to face the One."

Pause.

"Forgive us…"

Jill looks at the girl for a long time before her face softened…

"You're forgiven," Jill said with a smile.

The girl bolt up on her legs with a mixture of happiness and surprise.

"Just…just like that?" the girl asked.

"Just like that," Jill said, as she moves the tray to the side.

Tears began to fall down her face, as she rushed to her mother.

"Mommy!" the girl said. Even though she was a young woman now, her memories of Jill were that of a child.

For a long time, mother and daughter hugged each other…

"Usako, how-?" Jill asked.

"That would be my doing," said a familiar voice.

Jill looks over to see this world's Sailor Pluto, who was dressed in Shinto robes, rather than a Sailor fuku. She looked rather regal in her outfit, though…

"I assume that you're name is Setsuna Meioh?" Jill asked.

"It is," Setsuna replied. "In this age, the Sailor Scouts also go by the nomenclature 'The Empty Sisters'. For example, I am called 'Sister Nine'."

"Tell me, is that why you are religious now?" Jill asked. "I'm just curious."

"Each of us simply wear the adornments of faith," Sister Nine said. "And some of us are more religious than others, but we serve to provide healing to the sick, and protection to the faithful-"

"Is…Usagi up?" said a girl, as she sticks her head through the door.

Jill sees that the girl in question was Sailor Saturn…

"Hey, Hotaru," Jill said. "And yes, I'm up."

"Thank goodness," said Rei, as she enters the room. "That was close."

"It's because I am a samurai warrior, after all," Jill said. "Luck, in these parts, has very little to do with anything…"

Pause.

"But how is it that Usako is alive, when I buried her, along with her father?" Jill asked painfully.

"I resurrected her, of course," Setsuna said. "It was easy for me to do, since she is your child."

Jill closes her eyes. A lunarian could be resurrected easily. In fact, due to the mythical cycle of birth, life, death and renewal that was associated with the Moon, it was a simple matter to lit the divine spark within Usako.

And then, tears ran down her face, thinking about that massacre that destroyed a school and a family, all because of Lord Raul's need to create a stronger human…

"Mommy, we need your help," Usako said. "And it's about the Number One…"

An hour later, everyone gathers around to discuss the situation, as well as how things came to be…

"So you see, we have a problem," Minako said. "We were trying to create a sanctuary of sorts in these parts, but with the presence of the Number One…"

"Why didn't you all go after him?" Jill asked.

"Look at us," Haruka said. "Do you THINK we would have a chance to defeat him? And this is me, we're talking about."

"You knew the Number One, right?" Ami asked.

"I raised him as my son, although…I am ashamed to admit that I later saw him as something more, after he grew into manhood," Jill said. "Sure, he wasn't mine by flesh and blood, but being an immortal is a lonely experience, so I…I take what I can get."

Michiru nods her head, as she holds the hand of Haruka. She was glad that in this post-apocalyptic world, she had someone to love her, and vice versa…

"What do you mean?" Minako asked.

"You slept with the Number One, didn't you?" Makoto replied.

"Yes, I did, but it wasn't simple as that," Jill said. "Back then, I was alone for ten years, until I ran into Afroru, the Number Two at the time. He was on his way to confront 'Justice', the man who killed Rokutaro, the Number One of his day…"

Pause.

"Come to think about it, it at the very place you guys attacked me that started the ball rolling as to the truth of the matter."

"Um, we're sorry about that," Minako laughed nervously. "No…hard feelings?"

"Naw," Jill said. "Getting blown up clears the head."

"Oh."

"Well, it was after getting blown up that FIRST time when things got…interesting…"

FLASHBACK!

Afroru had gotten better enough to enjoy this year's Cherry Blossom Festival. As he sat underneath the stars, looking at the fireworks, he was pushed over by a drunken Jill.

"Aw, come on, Afroru," Jill said with a hic-up or two. "This is the festival."

"I don't feel like celebrating, especially with what we have to do."

"Oh, Afroru," said Okiku, as she brings forth more drink and food. "Living up here is lonely. If you're going to pay me back, you can start by keeping proper company."

Afroru looks at Okiku. There was something familiar about her…

"I agree," Jill said, as she hands over a small bottle of sake to Afroru. "For me?"

"Humph," Afroru said, as he accepts the drink. "Will you shut up about it, now?"

"Yeeeeessssss," Jill said with a grin.

"And to think you were my den mother," Afroru said, as he took a sip.

A mixture of heavy drink and loneliness amongst all three led to an interesting after-party, party that evening…

In the wee hours of the morning, Jill stirred, as she realized that she was in bed with Afroru.

"Oh, jeez," Jill said, as she sat up. Her head was pounding. She didn't remember much, other than celebrating the Cherry Blossom Festival a bit too much…

And then, her ears picked up an electronic signal.

"Hmmm?" Jill said, as she puts on her robes to investigate, even as Afroru woke up…

"Okiku?" Jill asked.

"Ah!" Okiku said. "Jill?"

"What are you doing?" Jill asked suspiciously.

Okiku turns away, ashamed at what she had done…

"Okiku-"

"I am not Okiku," the young woman said. "I am Otsuru…Usa-mama."

Jill was horrified at this revelation. Otsuru was the little girl who was an orphan at the time she had met Mamoru. And now…

"Oh, my," Jill said, as she got on her knees. "We…we…"

Jill looks up at her foster child.

"Why didn't you something? Afroru and I thought you were dead! And now…we…"

"Jill, whatever I was then is no more," Okiku said. "And besides, YOU slept with Afroru, too!"

Jill squint her eyes in pain. Even though she was not related to either Afroru or Otsuru, there were ethical considerations to deal with, and being drunk was not an excuse."

"So explain what you are doing now," said Afroru from behind.

"I didn't mean to betray you!" Otsura said. "I was forced to become a shinobi for the Seven Empty clan- Huh?"

Otsuru sees the black samurai warrior plunges his blade into the wall, killing a cyber-ninja in the process.

THOK!

"Get out of here," Otsura said.

"Yahh-!" yelled a cyber-ninja, as he attempts to run Jill through with his blade.

Jill's combat mind activates, as she smashes the floor, forcing a wooden plank to pop-up in front of the attacker.

POP!

BAM!

"Afroru-!" Otsura said, as she takes out a hair comb, pops a blade out of the handle, and throws it at Afroru's would-be attacker.

SWISH!

THOK!

And that's when all hell broke loose…

At a safe distance, Afroru, Otsura and Jill look on as the house that they were staying was on fire. One of the Empty Seven brothers tried to kill Otsura in order to cover their tracks, but Jill prevented that from happening. With them not knowing anything about Jill, Otsura's assignation attempt was prevented.

"This place isn't safe for you," Afroru said, as he turns to look at the girl. "Do you know a place to stay?"

"I do," Otsura said. "The Empty Seven does not know about it."

"We will return, when all this is over," Jill said, as she made sure her sword was ready.

"There is something you need to know," Otsura said. "It's about…Jinno…"

A few hours later, Afroru and Jill arrive at the steps at Mt. Kami-no-Itte (i.e. "Hand of God") by skimmer. The mountain was named in such a manner due to the fact that part of the edifice was in the shape of a giant, opened-palm hand that was facing up.

"Ready?" Jill asked, as she made sure that her weapons were ready to be utilized.

"Yep," Afroru said, as he lights up a cigarette.

"You know, smoking can cause cancer, and can kill you."

"A blade may not cause cancer, but the results are the same."

"Touché."

And, with that, the pair began their trek up to the top of the mountain…

"What the hell is THAT?" Jill said, as she sees two people standing on a long bridge to the mountain itself. Below was a ravine that went very deep into the ground…

"It looks like you two will have to fight yourselves," said Ninja-Ninja.

"Chibi-Chibi!" said Sailor Chibi-Chibi Moon, who was on Ninja-Ninja's shoulders.

"You said it, little darling…"

"You know, they are expecting us to fight these android duplicates," Jill said.

"That's why we're going to…flip the script," Afroru said.

As they got to meet Afro Droid and Jill Droid, the realized that the droids were trying to determine their next move…

Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck.

THA-BOOM!

Afroru and Jill clashes swords with their respective counterparts.

CLANG! SWISH! THOK!

Of course, the Empty Seven made sure that these droids were more combat efficient than their blood counterparts.

CLANG!

As Afroru fought his counterpart, Jill did as well.

CLANG!

Jill leaps back, and charges forward, as her blade arcs. At last minute, she pulls a feint, but uses her knees to slide low.

SWISH!

At the last minute, Jill Droid leaps out of the way. It attempts to flip over to jam its blade into Jill's back, but realized that was not there.

Afroru was.

In essence, Afroru and Jill flipped the script, by switching places at the last minute. The droids did not have time to recover, before they stabbed each other in the central power core.

Doooooooooooommmm…

And fell down deactivated.

"How can this be?" Brother One yelled. He and most of the other Seven Brothers looked like perverted monks…

Brother Six looked like a bruiser. He wore a rice hat, and short robes. And his eyes were replaced by cybernetic implants…

"This is what we get for relying upon that traitor Okiku's data," Brother Six said, as he activated the explosives on the bridge.

BOOM!

However, Afroru and Jill have long since crossed over…

SLICE!

"Arrgh!" said Brother Six, was stabbed by Afroru, Brothers Four and Five leaps out of the back that was on Brother Six.

"Now, we got Afroru!" Brother Four said, as he and Brother Five were about to lay down a heavy smack down on top of Afroru. "My brother and I are of one mind!"

"Not if someone else gets YOU," Afroru said with a smirk.

"Huh?" said Brother Five, as some grabs his and his brother's head.

THAK-THAK!

"Then be of one mind," Jill said, as smashed Brother Four and Brother Five's head together.

SMASH!

She finished the brothers off by twisting their necks around.

SNAP!

Jill let go of the bodies, allow them to stand on their own like a tepee.

Meanwhile, Afroru finishes Brother Six off, allowing him to fall unto the floor with a sickening thud.

THUNK!

"Well, well, well," Ninja-ninja said. "It looks like the 'Dream Team' got it going on!"

"Chibi-chibi!" Chibi-Chibi Moon said.

And off the fight continues…

**Tbc.**


	23. Finale, Act 6

**SMST 4: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

**

* * *

**

**Disclaimer: R1/2, SM, ST and other properties belong their respective properties.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

**

* * *

**

**Part 22: "Finale, Act 5"**

**

* * *

**

Meanwhile, far below in a stream in the ravine, the damaged droids—Afro Samurai and Samurai Jill—reactivated their secondary systems.

BLOOP!

CHIRP!

The droids begin to communicate with each other…

INITIATE REPAIRS.

SUGGESTION TO COMBAT THREAT: SHIVA MODE.

BEGIN FUSION.

With that, the droids move towards each other, and begins to integrate with one each other…

Meanwhile, Afroru and Jill arrive to what appeared to be a grand hallway. The walls were made from dark granite, and had kanji inscribed on the walls.

"Huh," Jill said, as she looked at the walls. "For a bunch of killers, the guys are certainly religious-"

Jill notices the hundreds of bodies that were piled up all over the place, as Afroru stepped through the pile of bodies.

"Hmmmm," Jill said, as she squats on the floor. She touched a puddle of blood with her fingers, and tasted it…"

"Pttah!" Jill said. "This massacre occurred a few hours ago-"

Suddenly, Afroru reached into a pile, and poked something with his two fingers.

POKE!

"Arrrrrgh!" Brother-3 screamed, as Afroru jammed electronic binoculars into his eye sockets. Somehow, he could still use the binoculars, since the circuitry was now linked to where his nerve ending were.

"Afroru, is he-?"

"He's the one who tried to stabbed Okitu earlier, remember?" Afroru said.

"Oh."

Accessing an elevated platform allowed Afroru and Jill to get to the inner sanctum of Mt. Kami-no-Itte. Directly at the center of the hall, on the far wall opposite of where Afroru and Jill entered the room, was a classic Buddhist shrine…

"It's hard to believe this place used to be the equivalent of 'Disneyworld'," Jill said.

"All I care about is finding the elevator to access the top," Afroru said. "It should be close by…"

"That's right," Jill said.

Pause.

"Afroru, about last night-"

"Don't worry about," Afroru said. "What happened, happened. "We're both adults."

"But I shouldn't have slept with you…or Otsuru," Jill said, as she looked away. "It's just that…I get so lonely sometimes, especially in a uncivilized world where the innocents or the unwary can get harmed."

Pause.

"Afroru, did I ever tell you that I was really from another era?"

"No," Afroru said.

"Well, I was. I was born 'Usagi Tsukino'. I was just a teenager in junior high school, when I became…a magical girl."

"A what?"

"Magical Girl. Basically, we're superheroes that fight demons, devils, evil sorcerers, dark gods and so forth."

"Sounds…ridiculous."

"You don't know the half of it. I…had a guardian to help me be 'Sailor Moon'. Later, when the bad guys got harder, there were more magical girls. Personally, I think 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' was a magical girl, but I digress…"

"The point?"

"My point is that ALL this…this shouldn't have happened. The Rifts should not have occurred. Now, look at me. Look at US. We fight all those things, but we also fight human monsters, like warlords, evil monks and priests. And if we don't, you get killed, while I…I get abused, and maybe killed later when I am no longer of any value."

Pause.

"As Sailor Moon, I've killed before, but I was able to justify what I did because the people that I killed weren't human. I don't know how long I will be able to keep this up with this, and being so…so lonely…"

Afroru goes over to Jill, and holds her.

"You raised me up to be a man," Afroru said. "SEE me as such. Don't feel guilty for doing what was natural to you, in light of the circumstances. And don't think about how I or Otsuru may feel. The world needs people like you because it has lost its conscious a long time ago."

Jill looks into Afroru's eyes. She no longer saw the little boy who came to her that day. She saw a man who would keep her from falling into despair.

"Friends?" Afroru said with a gentle smile.

"Friends," Jill replied likewise.

"Well," Afroru said, as he breaks the hug. "Let's find the exit-"

Suddenly, there was a roar of the engines, as a laser cuts the roof above.

SSSSSSSSSSS…

"What the-?" Jill said, as a perfect circle fell unto the floor.

THOOM!

The dust settles, as a new threat emerges.

What stood before Afroru and Jill was a Black version of Jill. However, instead a pair of Odangos on her head, this new creature had a pair of Afro poof balls on her head. Also, it was bigger, and possessed four arms.

Its designation was 'Afro Jill', codenamed: Shiva.

Afroru got into a fighting stance, ready for combat. However-

"Afroru, don't," Jill said, as she stepped forward. "I'll take care of this. You deal with the next circle of death."

"You sure?" Afroru said, as the temple's altar piece slides down to reveal an express elevator behind it.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Jill said with a cocky smile. "I AM a samurai, after all…"

Afroru takes one last look at the situation, before turning away.

"See you at the top, Afroru said, as he walks towards the elevator. He turns to face Jill.

"Good luck," Afroru said, as the elevator doors closed.

TING!

As soon as the doors closed, the fight was on.

The droids lower arms stick forward, as fire.

BOOSH!

Jill knocks away one arm, ducks another arm, and blasted by a forehead green laser.

FLASH!

"Gah!" Jill said, as the laser pieced her should clean. Luckily, the blast didn't affect her sword arm-

FISSSSH!

Suddenly, the droid was behind her.

"Yikes!" Jill said, as she barely dodged the attack.

The droid leaps over Jill, twists about, and uses its rocket jets to increase it attack rate.

CLANG! CLANG! SLICE! SWISH!

Jill was having a hard time avoid simultaneous strikes from a pair of fist strikes and a pair of blade attacks. And while she was doing this, a thought ran through her head…

DO NOT FAIL ME, MY STUDENT.

'What?' Jill thought. 'Master Raoh?'

YOU ARE MY LEGACY. DO NOT LET IT DIE BECAUSE COWARDS USE INSTRUMENTS OF WAR TO DO THEIR BIDDING. I HONED YOU TO PERFECTION, MOON PRINCESS. USE MY POWER…THE FIST OF THE NORTH STAR IN CONJUNCTION OF YOUR OWN SKILLS.

"…"

NOW!

At the last moment, Jill, after so many years, uses her battle aura to push her attacker back.

FWOOSH!

The droid did not anticipate this, as it recovered. It began to perform a spectral analysis, surprised that this human female was generating energy that exceeded normal output…

As Jill's aura brewed, her shoulder wound began to heal, leaving only a small scar. The battle aura even extended to her sword

Now cautious, a chain gun is produced in its mouth, as it moved foward.

CLAK!

RATATATATATATATATATATATATAT-!

Suddenly, Jill was circles around the droid at the last minute, and slices off its limbs.

SLICE-!

The droid stops, and rotates its neck to fire its chain gun, only to have Jill's blade neutralize it.

CRUNCH!

The droid stood still, as Jill removed her weapon. She then, twirls around, and decapitates the droid.

SLICE!

THUNK!

As the head fell unto the floor, Jill sheaths her weapon.

CLAK!

As she turns to towards the elevator, the torso of the droid is exposed. The droids 'boobs' reconfigure themselves into a pair of particle cannons that were set to discharge…

"Some otaku designed this robot," Jill said with annoyance, as she pull Otsura's comb dagger from her hair, and then throws it into the discharge mechanism itself.

SLICE!

THAK!

Hitting the right spot, the torso explodes.

BOOM!

"Some 'booby trap'," Jill said, as she resumes her way to the top. She just hoped to stop a tragedy from happening.

"At least I don't have to worry about killer androids anymore…"

"Ahhhhhhh!" yelled a man wearing a bear mask, as he fought Afroru with two swords.

KLANG!

Jill ignored the cold and snow, as she noticed that Afroru was holding back…

"I will make you pay for destroying our lives!" Kumo said, as he began his next move.

"JINNO!" Jill said.

Kumo stopped in his tracks, as he turned to face…

"Usa-mama?" Kumo said fearfully.

"It's me," Jill said, as tearfully while stepping forward. "You don't have to do this-"

"But…I must avenge-!"

"That isn't you speaking, Jinno," Jill said. "It's the fault of the bastard who turned you into a full cyborg and warped your mind in the process."

"But, the others-

"They are fine."

"But Afroru-"

"The Number One sent those killers after our family, in order to make sure that the son of Rutsuko would never find peace."

For a moment, all was still. And then-

SNAP!

SSSSSS…

Kumo takes off his helmet to reveal a bald Jenno whose head was half machine.

"It…it was a lie!" Jinno cried. "Ahhhhhh-!"

Jinno falls to his knees, as Jill comforts her former ward.

"It'll be okay, Jin-kun," Jill said. "I'll do whatever it takes to remedy this-"

"No," Jinno said, as he pushes Jill away.

THUMP!

"Jinno-!" Afroru said.

"I'll make the bastard pay for doing this!"

With that, Jinno gathers his sword, and runs to find the Number-1: Justice.

"Afroru, go after him," Jill said, as she walks over to the teddy bear head that served as Jinno's helmet.

"What are you going to do?" Afroru said.

"I'm going to deliver a message," Jill said, as she begins to fiddle with the receiver…

A floating head with tiny legs fluttered about the room…

"Damn Jinno!" the head said. "Why must he ruin things-?"

CHIRP!

Jill's face appears on the screen.

"Who-?"

"I will say this once," Jill said. "You are going to restore my ward Jinno to his human self…in full."

"And if I do not?"

"I will find you, and I will lock your mind into your brain for as long as your brain exists. You will not rest; in fact, you will not feel anything, accept for the nightmares of all your victims. And without an outlet to the screams you will make, you will go insane, or become a vegetable. Either way, you will be done."

"Yes, ma'am," Brother-2 said with an air of nervousness.

"Good boy…"

A few minutes later, Jill finds Number-1 fighting both Afroru and Jinno. Number-1 appeared as a mutant (skeletal face, patchy, dried skin and white eyes) wearing a poncho and cowboy hat. For some reason, he was fighting with only his six-shooters…

"Stop!" the man said. "There is a lady in the house…"

Afroru and Jinno steps back, and glanced over at Jill, as she walked into a grand hall covered with blood and vines. The vines carried the remains of others who bore headbands, numbers nine through three…

"Ah, the gang is all here," said the man, as he backed up. "The samurai known only as 'Jill' has returned."

Pause.

"And on this day, one of us will be a true god."

"We'll see about THAT," Jill said.

**Tbc.**


	24. Finale, Final

**SMST 4: Samurai Jill! – By DS Wynne**

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**Disclaimer: R1/2, SM, ST and other properties belong their respective properties.**

**Note: This is a multi-genre story.**

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**Part 23: "Finale, Act 6"**

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For what seemed to be an eternity, the combatants stood very still. The wind could be heard blowing through the caverns. The trees with the red petals seemingly covered the glass roof above. If one was to look up, he or she would see a black sun…

"The interesting thing of this little dance ours, is that we men and women of violence are the stop gaps of civilization," Justice said with a smirk.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jinno asked angrily.

"Think about it, my clockwork man: man creates fire, dominates nature, and man creates steel to dominate other men," Justice said. "That is poetry, my friend."

Justice turns towards Afroru.

"Your father Rutsuko wanted to bury the headbands forever as a way of breaking the cycle of violence that comes with these headbands," Justice said. "In my opinion, he did so because he was soft."

Afroru grips the handle of his sword, as he grits his teeth…

"He couldn't handle the pressure stemming from the handband wars. Feh. Did he REALLY think that others would-be 'masters of the universe' would just…give up killing each other for renown and power? As you can see around me, these dead men certainly didn't…"

A breeze blew through the throne room of blood, as the remains of other men shook and clattered…

"But I knew the truth of the matter, that chaos in a world gone mad is as natural as breathing. Only by having all ten headbands, can order be brought to this world, with me as the enforcer of the Creator's glorious will.

Pause.

"Of course, in order to be the best, I had to make sure that Rutsuko's little boy to fall in the lie. Oh, no. I did Afroru a favor, first by killing his pappy, and then killing his happiness…by destroying his little family of orphans. Mamoru the Master Swordsman was easy to manipulate."

"What about him?" Jill said.

"It's simple, my dear," Justice said, as he rotates his neck. "Ask yourself this: if he had the Number-2 headband, why didn't he go after me to begin with?"

"You're not saying that Master Mamoru…is a coward?" Jinno said.

"Oh, heaven forbid that. No, my little teddy bear. His job was to prepare little Afroru for what he was suppose to do."

"…"

"And when he refused to cooperate any longer, well, I had to push the situation. Too bad kids had to die in order to make sure that the son can be the man I want him to be…"

"You…you monster!" Jinno said, as he rushed forward, with swords in hand.

"Jinno-!" Jill said, as Afroru attempts to intercept.

CLANG!

Justice crossed his guns to block the sword strokes of the paired weapons, just as a third arm emerged from Justice's back with a sword.

SLICE-!

KLANG!

"Nice!" Justice said, as his sword arm was blocked by Afroru's blade. "But you still lose."

"No-!" Jill said, as she flexed her chest, causing bullets to fly out of her cleavage. She then produced a battle aura that allowed her to smack the bullets' casing like a hammer on a pistol.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM-!

The rounds hit their marks, sending Justice back to his throne of rock, ash and bone.

"Arrrgh!" Justice screamed, before recovering. He looked at Jill with contempt.

"So, you know the whore's trick…of the Grenadier."

"It worked, didn't it?" Jill smirked. "I simply took it to the next level."

"Then, so shall I," Justice said, as he suddenly stretches his arms, and embedded them into the ground.

BAM!

"What the-?" Jinno said, as Afroru moves in for the kill. However, pony protrusion came flying up from the floor.

SPLURCH!

"Ahhh!" Jill said, as she felt her limbs being impaled.

"Arrrgh!" Jinno yelled, as the rest of his body was run through.

Afroru managed to slice one of Justice's limbs, before he was impaled in the head…

"Yowtch-!" Afroru said, as he was lifted into the air by his afro…

"Game…over," Justice said, as he slowly walks towards his foes. "A nice little run, but it's over now."

"You're…a monster!" Jill said. "A demon!"

"I am that which the world made me, Cherie," Justice said. "And after I make you watch me finish off the kids, I will have some fun with you…"

Pause.

"And then, there will be peace in our time…as the hand of God of this world."

Pause.

"And when I have taken the Number Zero headband, I will BE GOD!"

"That's what you think," Jinno said, as he throws his two swords at Justice.

SWISH!

Justice catches the swords with his two remain hands, allowing Afroru to act, as he lifts him up from the bone protrusion, leaps high in the air…and brings down his own sword.

SLICE!

A red line appears where Afroru made the cut. However, Justice refused to fall apart.

"You…can't stop me!" Justice said. "I am…immortal!"

SNAP!

Jill manages to break one of the bone protrusions that held her in place. Her battle aura began to bubble up…"

"You're history, Justice," Jill said, as she palmed the very air around the mutant…

FWOOSH!

"Arrrrghhhhhh!" Justice yelled, as he felt the pure force of Jill's battle aura.

"Now, DIE!"

BWOOSH!

Justice is slammed against the throne, as he was crushed into a fine paste. Even then, all the anger and frustration fueled Jill's righteous indignation, as what was left of Justice was vaporized into nothing…

"For Mamaru," Jill said tearfully. "For all the pain and death that was needlessly caused over these stupid headband wars…"

As the Number One headband floated to the ground, the air around the three changed, from red to green-blue. The Fall was over, now comes the Spring…

"It is over," Jill said with a sigh, as the bone protrusions that held her and Jinno dissolved.

"Is it?" Jinno said, as he looked at his reflection in the pool of water.

"It is," Afroru said, as he places the Number One headband on his head.

"Only if the other headbands are kept out of the public's mind," Jill said. "Headband Zero will always be mine."

"Then, I shall guard Headbands two through nine," Jinno said, as the other headbands fell into Kumo's hands. "No one will ever have to deal with this…"

Meanwhile, Ninja-Ninja and Sailor Chibi-Chibi Moon look on with a smile.

"Well, it looks like we are no longer needed, kiddo," Ninja-Ninja said, as he light up a cigarette. "Say, you want to hit the road?"

"Chibi-Chibi!" Chibi-Chibi Moon said excitedly.

"Then let's go," Ninja-Ninja said, as he took the girl's hand. As they walked away, they faded from view…

"Thanks," Jill said, as she looks on, as the three figments of Afroru's and Jill's respective imaginary friends disappeared, for at least for a while…

END FLASHBACK!

"So, that was that," Jill said. "Afroru reunited with Otsuru, and traveled for a bit before settling down at the old dojo with Jinno. I was able to get a new clone body for Jinno, so that Brother Two could transfer his brain into his new body. Afterwards, I left for the road…after giving birth to Afroru's child, Afroruki."

Pause.

"I…could be the mother of Afrouki, so I gave him up to his father and to Otsuru," Jill said with a sigh.

"That's just it, Mother," Usako said. "Afrouki…he killed my husband and his parents in order to be the hand of God."

Pause.

"And I am carrying your grandchild," Usako said, as she pressed her stomach.

"You…were married?"

"Yes," Usako said with a sigh. "I had just gotten married recently, when Afroruki went mad. He wanted me for himself, but I only saw him as a brother. Mother…he killed Afroru and Jinno, and reclaimed Mt. Kami-no-Itte as his throne."

"He's waiting for you, Usagi," Setsuna said.

"Then, I know what to do…"

Jill rises to her feet.

"Then, I know what to do," Jill said.

"Let us come with you," Minako said.

"No, this is what I have to do for myself…"

Some hours later…

"So, Mother," Afroruki (aka "The Golden Afro") said, as he sat on the throne at the top of Mt. Kami-no-Itte. "How was the trip?"

Jill looks at her son. He had a blond "Jew-fro" and tanned skinned. He was quite handsome. He wore his hakama pants proudly, as he had all headbands wrapped around his brawny torso…

"I apologize for abandoning you, my son, but you will be stopped," Jill said evenly.

"Really," Afroruki said, as he gets up from his throne. He took out his katana from its scabbard.

"Then, I suggest that you defend yourself."

"I'm not going to fight you, but I will defeat you."

"Then, defend yourself!" Afrouki said, as he moved at a speed that was inhuman.

SLICE!

Jill dodged and side-stepped her son's actions and strikes, while making no move to strike back.

"Why won't you strike back?" Afroruki said, as he breathed raggedly.

"Because I am tired of all this death," Jill said. "I'm sorry, my son…"

Using quick hand movements, Jill used her son's pressure points to manipulate his brain.

"Arrrrrgggghhhhh!" Afroruki yelled, as he clutched his head, after he dropped his sword. "What have you've done to ME-?"

"You won't remember this, so I will tell you," Jill said. "You will soon regress mentally to that of a child. Eventually, you will forget everything that has happened to you these past few years. But not to worry; I time, you will mature again, but not for a long while…"

Pause.

"Good-bye, Afrouki, my son…"

"YAHHHHHHH-"

Sometime later, weeks after the incident…

"Big sister, can I help you cook?" Afroruki asked.

"Sure," Usako said with a pleasant smile, as she hunched over a hot stove in her father's home.

"Thank you," Afroruki said. "I like to help…"

"Now, go get the potato peeler, and be careful."

"Don't worry," Afroruki said. "I will…"

After Afroruki leaves to get the potato peeler, Usako looks outside, where her mother is putting flowers on the grave of her family. Jill had already said her good-byes, so there was nothing for Usako to do.

"Good luck on your endeavors, Mother," Usako said, as she sheds a tear. For some reason, she had a feeling that she would never see Jill again, at least in this life…

"As Jill turns away from the graves of Afroru and the others, she adjusted the handbands that wrapped around her body like bandages. In time, the magic of the headbands will transfer to Jill, leaving the markings of the headbands like tattoos. Having the headbands on was the only way to neutralize the magic within them, and thus will render them useless.

"You won, Master Raoh," Jill said, as she adjusted her cloak. "Because of you, I am now the goddess of the world…of life, and DEATH, not of love and justice."

Pause.

"Damn you…"

And with that Jill hits the road again. Somewhere out there, Ranma was out there. What she would not know was that she would wander into a hidden valley in America, where she would be forced to go into a state of suspended animation for the next three hundred years. She would go on to become a "warrior princess" for an alien race, and take up a new identity. But for now, the legend of the samurai known simply as "Jill" was over.

**Fin.**

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**Author's Note: This story continues into "The Princess of the Splugorth". See you then!**


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